Listen to Skrillex’s new 3-track EP: ‘The Reason (Leaving)’

Whilst many music fans think dubstep producer Skrillex makes EDM that’s 80% aggression, 20% wobble and 0% melody, he’s started 2013 with a little reminder of why he’s still well respected by many of his music-making peers, dropping a little three-track EP that rejects brostep in favour of a multi-layered, more UK-oriented sound.

The new project, titled The Reason (Leaving), is well worth a listen, and not just for the title track, which sees the Los Angeles based super-producer make a very different texture (or textures) to those we’re used to hearing from him. With orchestral elements, pitch-shifted vocals and a pretty mixture of skittering production and dreamy synthpads, “Leaving” is something of an ode to London dubstep genius Burial, and it’s accessible without being in your face.

The other two tracks are heavier, but it would be plain stupidity to label them simple exercises in line with so much of the dubstep we heard in 2012. Whilst “The Reason” turns things up a bit, the track sees Skrillex incorporate nu-disco and electro elements alongside big beat-style music to create something playful and multi-faceted, and even the heaviest dropping track on the EP, “Scary Bolly Dub” [which rehashes his major hit "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites"] revives the original’s most melodic electro elements in a new, Carnival-style environment.

Stream the three-track EP below, and purchase via his label’s subscription service, The Nest.