Review: It's hard to ignore the heavy swathes of mystique about Chikara Project's Marenn Sukie, despite him part of the label and a contributor to their VA collections for some quite some time (and a career that goes back further on labels like Synkro Muzik and Banoffee Pie). Even on this debut album release, very little is given away about Marenn, but that just adds to the intrigue as he rolls out his most details, diverse and dextrous document to date. Ranging from the dusty soul of the opener 'The Road' to the final dubby cries and echoes of 'Runaround', this is a deeply moving body of work that really tells a story and grabs you by the short and curlies from start to finish. Musical but never diluted, this has everything. Stunning.
Review: Three years since My Own Private Island comes the second proper studio album from Bristol duo Mystic State. Flexing the tempos and blurring the boundaries as always, the pair roll out a collection thoughtfully with attention to detail in the album craft. From the smouldering contemporary cosmic jungle of 'The Uprising' to the soulful hurricane of 'Stormboy' (with Lucy Kitchen), Mystic State glide, slide and open ears wide with a measured and very focused sound and sense of soul. Complete with collabs with the likes of Alicia Kiah, Cutta Chase, Elysia Grace, Third Degree, Lucy Kitchen and Marenn Sukie, this is a body of work that will complement any context, situation or season. Mature but not overcooked; Mystic State are on another level right now.
Review: For this latest outing from Mystic State, we see the unveiling of the 'Stutter' EP, which sees us dive into a fabulous display of steppers-inspired sound design and emotional harmonic backdrops, showing just how versatile that Mystic State sound can be. We open up with the harp-pluck-driven melodics of the title track 'Stutter', which slowly unravels into a beautifully composed combination of bulging bass sweeps and dramatic woodwind whirls. Next, Jack Flynn-Oakley joins the party for the sub-heavy sweeps of 'Falling Down', which again gives us a truly unique sound, focussing on breathy reverbs and spacious percussive manoeuvres, before SMBR gets involved to assist with the final touches of 'Ruminate'. This one is a glittering masterclass in vocal processing and delicate melodic structure, rounding the project with a syncopated twist.
Review: We have a fabulous project to dive into with this one as Marenn Sukie joins forces with The Chikara Project for another unique exploration into the more emotive, soundscape-driven side of the dubstep sound. We open up with the stunning pad textures and delicately designed drum expressions of 'In Love No More', which immediately sends us into a state of sonic hypnosis, losing ourselves in the fabulous use of space we find ourselves drifting through. Next, a more traditional drum set arrives for 'Enough Of You', which again utilizes beautiful harmonic structures to deliver another dreamy adventure, before 'Need You Tonight' returns to a more lo-fi feel, exploring unique rhythmic bounces and a much more smokey feel. Finally, the brightest of the bunch leads our finale as 'Do What You Want' delivers another crunchy exploration into major melody, surrounded with floating pad textures and more hypnotic synth movement to round us off with an additional dash of finesse.
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