Adelaide based beat-producer Oisima (Anthony Wendt) released his debut album Nicaragua Nights in May. As the name suggests, the album is composed of slow burning house and melodic layers that invite for a late summer’s night boogie.

The experimental nature of tracks such as “Take Your Time”, where layers of raw percussions melt with languorous vocals, signals to the listener that Oisima’s musical maturity has reached its peak. The fifth track “Sidewalk Cerve ces” does not fail to remind of Flume’s bass heavy melodies, though Oisima skilfully adds his personal touch by chopping and tuning his own vocals with delicate precision.

Soulful Sydney singer Annabel Weston hums delightfully in “Everything About Her” while her powerfully emotional chorus evokes a strong sense of grief and loss. This song stands out by being quite uniquely emotional; in Oisima’s own words “The vocals almost feel lethargic and behind the beat which plays with the ears in a way I really enjoy.” On the contrary, some of his tracks are more structured and remind of 90s house rhythms.

Ending his album on an epically meditative touch with “Take Your Time” Oisima sends a message on the need to escape the unnecessary futilities that we waste time on in our daily lives. The vocal sample becomes a religious mantra, repeated over and over in affirmation. It seems almost as if the year that Oisima spent on the South Australian coast was a religious pilgrimage that allowed him to find his signature musical complexity that is revealed in his languorously powerful debut album.