X_p is the moniker/project of Siddharth Upmanyu; 2020 saw the release of his first EP ‘Journeyman’. That set of songs had some great potential and this new release, ‘Lost’, builds on it in every conceivable way. There are three songs on this release and they’re all rather long, slowly built up pieces. They also merge a bunch of acoustic elements with their electronic skeleton, so what you get is 17 minutes of really organic, warm music. This is truly right for a rainy day, a contemplative moment or a short film about how fast life goes with traffic timelapses. Without labels, it is quite simply a strong and surprisingly emotional listen.

That emotion sort of creeps up on you without warning over the songs here. There are many elements that ‘Lost’ shares with the sort of minimal ambient music C418 used to do (umpteenth shout out to the maker of some the greatest modern music of our time); the tinkling, rather quiet synths come and go in sections along with a warm and cozy piano. Of course, it doesn’t get overly sleepy either. There is a contrast to the music here that saves it from being too comfortable with itself.

The aforementioned pianos and synths at times give way to less rounded and slightly more aggressive tones and on occasion pounding drums (though don’t expect to have your skull exploded or anything); a touch that Siddharth uses sparingly but to great effect. What these decisions do is allow him to take his time with the songs here and be a bit laid-back about building energy up. And that works excellently.

You can tell how deliberate the pacing is from the beginning of the first track ‘fear of alienation’. It takes a whole two and a half minutes for the thumping and bass-heavy groove to come in. Long build-ups are of course as common as anything in EDM and its allied genres, but the payoff here is somehow more so. The instrumentation that the track starts with is its skeleton and acts as a link between all its parts. Of course, it’s all good; the groove has a thump to it, silence is used well before the track reaches its interestingly epic conclusion (strings and guitar ahoy) and there is a measure of subtlety. ‘somewhere, but not here’ follows a similar sort of template but ramps up the emotion. It has that indescribable ‘thing’ of being both pleasant and melancholy at the same time, which it takes from its influences. The groove plods along here rather than punching you in the gut, but the general undertone of sorrow is what carries the song. The same goes for ‘hope’ which is a bit happier by necessity but retains that quiet sadness that makes it all work. It is the most orchestral of the three songs on ‘Lost’ but also its most sunny. There isn’t much wrong with what x_p puts forward here as a collection of songs or as an experience. You don’t even notice time passing as you submerge yourself into its easy-going but emotionally relevant world, and that is greatly to its credit.

Listen to 'Lost' here and on all platforms.