Zerolex is probably best known as part of the French quartet of producers known as Cotton Claw. Last year, Zerolex stepped out on his own and delivered his brilliant solo album, M.I.L.D.. Now he comes back with a short EP called Honesty.

Much like the title of this EP, the music itself seems fairly simple at first, until you really examine it and see just how complex it really is. On its surface, this seems like just a simple downtempo EP. Once you spend some quality time with it, you start to pick up on the ways that Zerolex is able to develop his music and make it stand apart from a very crowded field of instrumental releases. Even though there are two tracks with vocal guests, it’s not just as simple as just adding vocals. On the title track, which features Felp, Zerolex does a great job of finding this balance in his production, where it sits right in between the warm R&B tone and this eerie, pitch-bending, sci-fi sound that never lets you get truly comfortable. On “Patience,” he turns to his dance music side, venturing into an area that doesn’t get explored nearly often enough, which is downtempo house music. Of course, with house, it’s all about layering and slowly building and developing, which Zerolex does a great job of. By the time you get to “Conquest,” all bets are off, and Zerolex finds this unique intersection of so many different styles of electronic music that it becomes incredibly difficult to describe, except to say that Zerolex does an amazing job of taking you on a journey and defying expectations, while still delivering an instrumental track that is memorable and enjoyable all at once. The EP closes with “Asmea,” which is an absolutely gorgeous track featuring another gem of the French music scene, Holy Two. The song is only four minutes long, but it feels so grand in its composition and takes you on such an emotional journey, it’s easy to forget what a short song and EP this actually is.

In just about anybody else’s hands, a four-song EP like this would purely be filler in their discography. In Zerolex’s hands, he demonstrates just how good he is, as he packs a ton of information and takes you on an emotional rollercoaster with such a small amount of music. Honesty is not something to sleep on.