Ariel, the new EP from Taragana Pyjarama aka Nick Kold Ericksen is a suite of 5am trance breakdowns capturing those moments when the sun is almost coming up, the clarity just before and just after something truly epic crystallized eternally in vignettes presented in a sequence – a series of tracks ecstatic on their own but transcendent together. Intrumental EP opener ‘Givers’ builds to the point of rapture, while title track ‘Ariel’ promises “I will do all it takes, I will be here all the way,” over icy, undulating synthwork. ‘Ber’ is an exercise in subtlety, a soft beat peppered with icy flourishes. 
 Taragana Pyjarama takes the major chord ecstasy of progressive house and strips it of ornament with barely any drums, no drops and no resolutions – arpeggiated melodies and simple vocal features, including a stand-out turn from rising young New Zealander Lontalius on ‘Buchla’. The record closes with ‘Together’, a distorted voice drawing in and blanketing the listener before evaporating into the ether. 
 “I have always tried to push myself with each release,” Erickson reveals, “but this is the first time I feel like I’ve succeeded. I’ve had to sorta force out an unnatural way for me of writing music, which at times has felt almost like a break up or something. Something I had to get through and had to do, to feel better about it. It’s a new start in a way. I’m just getting comfortable with my music and learning from this, but at the same time everything seems so much clearer now.”