Heralded as one of Ireland’s most promising talents in 2011, SertOne returns in 2012 with the Shapes In The Sky EP on Melted Music. Having received praise for his previous work from the likes of MTV Iggy, Hot Press Magazine and Nialler9, the young producer further displays a musical maturity beyond his years with four tracks of bubbling hip hop and electronic music. This is hip hop for the new generation, beholden to the golden years yet firmly rooted in modern aesthetics and looking intently towards the future.
Further Down (From Here to There) opens up with fragments of female vocals and atmospherics as the rhythm increasingly filters through, soon bursting into life and bringing with it a distinct hip hop bounce grounded in solid bass and evocative electronic melodies. SertOne imbues the instrumental production with life through filtering work, rhythmic permutations and melodic playfulness.
On They Call SertOne links Ireland and Jamaica, hip hop and dub with a subtle head-nodding production centred around the same vocal sample Mark Pritchard used for his recent Africa Hitech production Out In The Streets – the sort of bravado youth affords. Flipping the sample in his own way, SertOne makes it an integral part of a swung-out riddim that uses the bass melody to drive rhythmic movements and progresses in an irresistible way, bringing to mind the pioneering work of people like Dabrye. The vocals appear recursively throughout, pitched up and down and further marking this one as its own blazed out anthem for the streets.
Breath features the vocal talents of another young and promising Irish act, Young Wonder. SertOne makes great use of vocalist Rachel Koeman’s voice and its hypnotic qualities to craft a spell-binding electronic production that keeps the listener engaged across its 7 minutes thanks to carefully balanced rhythmic and tempo switches and a beatless ending that only reinforces the track’s emotional potential. As the vocals exclaim at the start, it’ll send shivers down your spine.
The EP closes with Lego, bringing together once more hip hop and dub sensibilities. An out and out head nodder built atop a bubbling bassline, Lego uses space in the music to create a sense of immersion filled only with flying melodies and subtle vocal samples. A deep immersive experience that’s perfect for bringing the listener back down to earth.
Shapes In The Sky will no doubt further cement SertOne as one of Ireland’s most promising young talents, an artist that understands where hip hop came from and with a clear vision of where he wants to take it, unafraid of experimenting. It’s precisely this – as well as a solid understanding of rhythmic and melodic tropes that can keep both heads and dancefloors moving – that makes him such a vital voice today.
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