The Boy Traveler aka Daniel Jacob Sternbaum reissued his 2008 self-titled EP in July 2023 as it hadn’t been available for a decade. He’d just finished touring with Sonny Moore (aka Skrillex) during the travels for which they’d listened to numerous artists but Aphex Twin, Justice and Radiohead in particular sparked a creative direction for the four-song EP. Lead track “January 07” featured Ryan Star. The song features finely modulated beats and luminous, downtempo keyboard work and vocals that sound like someone singing while in a trance state. The lyrics are from a poem that Star had written with his vocal performance and its trailing tones serving as an unconventional framework for a song that is somewhere between an IDM track and a haunted trance composition. Sonically it has the hallmarks of a 90s and 2000s left field electronic song yet the mood and sound seem to fit in with the current era like trip-hop with more of the specter of dystopian disaster hanging over it lending it a proper tinge of desperate undertones. Listen to “January 07 ft. Ryan Star” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the EP and follow The Boy Traveler at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
You must be logged in to post a comment.