Even though his name's been on plenty of lips since the drop of his debut EP, 'Ys', released back in 2014, each new record from Gardens Of God comes as a fresh and vibrant kiss of life to whichever label gets him to grace its grooves. Back on Ellum Black to kick off the new year after three outings in the imprint's main series, the Lithuanian producer unleashes one of his home-cooked assortments of stripped-down, yet salient, warehouse-sized brain melters. Starting with the title-track 'Ken', which - sure to have the fierce winds of dementia blowing on all dance-floors it comes across - lays down a balanced mix of textural roundness and train-like dynamism with an ever trenchant, gut-punching churn. Minimal in essence but forged in the strongest of alloys, GoG's compositions keep rolling and pitching like carbon-made nutshells in a tempest of raging elements. Same goes with the tribal dub of 'Spirits', which trades most of the opener's spheric bounce for a harsher, steelier kind of rhythmic shuffle, whilst lifting its listener to a further entrancing state of mind. Rushing headlong into euphoric 4/4 terrains, the steady rolling highlight 'Bell You' nails it on an even more addictive note with its delicate wind chimes cutting a path of illumination across intricate games of delayed drums and hypnotic, knee-buckling bass moves from down the greater depths. 'Ken EP' encapsulates most of what makes Garden of God's singular appeal: a subtly-inlaid hybrid of trancey buildups, electronica-infused melodicism and an out-there, big-room-dedicated pound that's no other aim but to morph a disparate crowd into one giant, malleable mass of pleasure and ecstasy. Tune yourself in. More