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Polish producer 2K88 creates dark, gritty music that pays homage to his country’s rap history and UK bass music. So when the Unsound festival in Poland asked him to join a group of British musicians, it was clear that he was attracted by Lauren Duffus, Rainy Miller and Bianca Scout, all of whom sound good, the kind of agnostic that sounds good after hours. The trio joined 2K88 to live in their hometown of Gdynia last year before rehearsing in Kraków; his creations have now been made into 10 full songs.
As you’d expect from any of their projects, the record is fierce and sultry, made up of glacial sounds, FX’d vocal pieces and low-key beats. The opening track Everything Always Changes sets the vibe as the drones of the genre intertwine with Duffus’s gauzy, twisted vocals. Miller’s beautiful spoken word adds depth, which is lightly supported by soaring vocals on In Stardust Garden… (Empress Ballroom) and Purple Mauve.
There are also shades of left-field R&B as Duffus moves around the cry of Kelela the hook in Salto, is the slo-mo drum pattern that underlies Forevers Just Trust in Another Day. But even this is filtered through a clear lens: the beat is replaced only occasionally and only distorted voices can be heard.
At rest, the amorphous structure appears to be loose and aggregated rather than in space. Sometimes it is felt in the nose. In the final iteration, Miller’s quick delivery verges on the corny, especially when cut against the ethereal chorus loop. But these taxing moments are redeemed by a few genuinely beautiful ones: the collage-like scenes in A Random Introduction; Scout’s whispering comments on the Poetic Fallacy. Here, the quartet’s skills are reflected in the fog.
Also this month
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