Exhale
Exhale sustains its interest through repetition and tension, with quieter opening and closing pieces giving Batu and Donato Dozzy's collaboration a discreet sense of shape.
Released on 30 June 2026 by !K7 Music, Exhale grew from Batu's visit to Donato Dozzy's Rome studio in February 2025. Hardware sketches and subsequent software editing underpin the eight pieces. The shared process gives a useful context for a record whose appeal lies in how its ideas develop over time.
Spiral is engaging throughout. Its repeated material holds attention without making the listener impatient for a new idea, allowing familiarity to become part of the pleasure. The track makes a convincing case for staying with a pattern and following its development.
Off Axis is a tense experience, and that tension gives the album a different kind of hold. The quieter Emergence and Bloom frame the sequence effectively, although their contribution to its shape is subtle. The balance becomes clearer when attention turns to the running order; it need not announce itself on a first pass.
That understated organisation is one of Exhale's strengths. There is enough engagement within the individual pieces to make the larger structure feel unforced. Batu and Dozzy sustain a coherent exchange, with the quieter passages providing a satisfying frame for its more insistent centre.