Before You Begin

Avant-garde soul from 22-year-old Atlanta singer/producer Sequoyah Murray. Draws on a range of eclectic influences, including jazz, free-improv, and West and North African polyrhythms. A great artistic statement – everything on this is a leg up on the already-solid EP that just trickled through the A-File. Amazing vocal reach paired with nuanced and wholly unique hypermodern production. For fans of Sampha, Majid Jordan, Arthur Russell, PartyNextDoor, and James Blake. All songs FCC Clean. Start with 4, 7, 2

(1.) (1:03) Killer futuristic soul intro with distorted effects and opera samples (*2.) (3:44) Looped distorted medieval chanting, layered rumbling cello baseline, wavering organs, soaring harmonies (3.) (4:30) Swollen electronic baseline, emotional vocals. Early 00’s blog synthpop aesthetics at times (*4.) (4:50) Crazy scattershot low-end electronic production that explodes into cascading synth triplets with deep baritone vocals and smooth gliding strings (5.) (1:20) Short percussion-heavy (xylophone, rain stick) ballad dedicated to his mother (6.) (3:14) Jazzy collage. Groovy, showcasing Murray’s stellar vocal range (*7.) (4:06) Smooth emotional vocals, deep throbbing bass, skittering futuristic synth lines, great percussion (8.) (4:44) 8-bit intro leads into gyrating tropical production in the vein of Shabazz Palaces (9.) (6:26) Folksy, strummy, laid-back