introducing damien zala... the next promising young frenchman to release on hold youth. although relatively unknown, his first album *lonely happiness* received strong support from theo parrish, norm talley and luke hess amongst others. combining analogue synths and drum-machines with acoustic elements and samples from old records, the trained sound engineer is a rigorous technician aiming to create sophisticated deep house atmospheres. hold youth provide a breeding ground for open-minded and innovative music, and zalas second life ep ticks all the right boxes. exploring sounds from a broad spectrum, *ms blue* is the moody opener that creates a melange of raw minimal jazz, while the b side continues in this vein with more of an obvious off-key german micro house influence. *considered done* references the late herbie hancock, sampling his voice over a flowing piano melody and punchy bass line, while *tribute to willy simon* goes all out funky, full of brass, with a classic hip hop swagger.