Latency

With Distillation, Tokyo-based producer Yu Asaeda, known as Ena, delivers a focused and richly textural statement—capturing the singular momentum of his most prolific period. Following a series of acclaimed releases on 7even, Samurai Horo, and Hidden Hawaii, Ena arrives on Latency with a suite of minimalist, dub-infused tracks that dissolve the boundaries between techno, D&B, and experimental electronics.

True to its title, Distillation presents a concentrated essence of Asaeda’s diverse influences. Each piece operates in a state of suspension—where rhythm, bass, and space are manipulated less through genre convention and more through suggestion, gesture, and negative space.

“Crossroads” opens the record with a non-Newtonian pulse, its off-axis motion setting the tone for the textural, shifting sound worlds that follow. ​“Waft” blends gamelan-like metallic resonance with drifting sub-bass figures, forming a composition as immersive as it is elusive. On the flip, ​“Narrow” folds polymetric dub into viscous, low-end pressure, while ​“Tendency” melts down into a skeletal, hyper-minimalist sequence—somewhere between flashcore abstraction and slowed-down D&B deconstruction.

Distillation is Ena at his most refined: elemental, immersive, and unmistakably his own.