Atem. - Grey EP
Monday, July 2, 2012 at 12:33PM 
Vancouver-based producer Keith Stewart aka Atem., has been hard at work creating some incredible bass music, taking inspiration from the brutal, beautiful natural landscapes found in western Canada.
His debut Grey EP has come out via Blenheim and Celtic Recordings and consists of six eerie, swinging instrumentals.
Atem. has been playing the piano since a very early age, so his skill on the keys and his composition are on point. It's hard not to compare this to Burial actually, the influence is clearly there.
At the heart of this record are washed-out soulful chords and delicate piano melodies; the melancholic piano reflects a period of imbalance and frustration experienced by the artist during this record's construction. While composing the Grey EP, he moved away from his hometown, ran out of money, went through periods of withdrawal from creativity, and faced the disappointment of a consuming romance that ultimately never got off the ground.
In the German language, “atem” means “breath.” And so, we might interpret his moniker,“Atem.”, to signify the cessation of the breath. As the artist related to me, “the period signifies a stop; hence- stop breathing.”
This EP is beautiful from start to finish, and it's free. Stream it below, and download the zip here.