Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The New World’ (Mixtape) (Available from October 29th, 2021) (via BMG)
Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come around for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘LOST’ comes to you from the South London-based Grime, Garage and Dubstep producer Swindle – his real name is Cameron Palmer – who first emerged on the UK’s Grime scene with his self-released debut mixtape, ‘The 140 Mixtape’, in 2007. His earliest influences call back to Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis and Bob Marley, and Palmer has a background in Jazz, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop music. This is because his father was a Blues guitarist who gave Palmer lessons at a young age, and so he has been making his own music – starting from his Bedroom studio – since 2004. Palmer has been known for his fruitful collaborations with other artists in recent years, and he has worked with the likes of Terri Walker, Flowdan and P Money during his career. The trend will continue on his upcoming new album ‘The New World’, which is hitting record store shelves late next month – on October 29th – via BMG. The lead single, ‘LOST’, has been playlisted for BBC Radio 6 Music’s daytime rotation, and it finds Palmer linking with Loyle Carner, Kojey Radical and JNR Williams. Check it out below.
The follow-up to 2019’s ‘No More Normal’, Swindle wrote and recorded ‘The New World’ over the time of just two weeks at Real World Studios in Wiltshire after the lifting of the UK’s national lockdown period in late 2020, with the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic forming the backbone of the album’s themes. The release also features a diverse line-up of guests, including the likes of Greentea Peng, Maverick Sabre, Joel Culpepper and Poppy Ajudha among the collaborative track listing. ‘LOST’ finds Loyle Carner lending his intimate, socially conscious rap style to the first verse, while Kojey Radical contributes his slightly heavier rhythms to the cause. The two have more of a verbal spar in the third verse, delivering some motivational lyrics about finding purpose like “Pinocchio knows no bounds but he’s trying/That brother say he run the jungle but they lying” and “They was trying to make darkness a weapon/I was trying to make darkness a blessing” that duel at times, with the two narrators controlling a mid-tempo journey through some slabs of warm Bass and some stretches of orchestral Brass sections. JNR Williams, meanwhile, keeps the pace flowing with the memorable hook of “Oh, they lost themselves in lying” during the chorus. Swindle’s work behind the decks on production is diverse throughout, as he serves up some snatches of horns that gives Williams a Gospel quality to his voice, and he plays around with understated Bass to provide a sonorous, laconic style to the proceedings. Although it begs the question of “How many people does it take to make a song?” just a tad (You would be suprised, a lot of mainstream Pop tunes have at least 15 writers credited), the sum of all the parts here is certainly worthwhile and that’s all what really matters. A diverse, colourful take on Grime and Dubstep that feels grounded enough by the ‘Jam session’ style of collab vocals, and it sounds fresh.
Pictured: Swindle (Cameron Palmer) at ‘Real World Studios’ (2021) (Photo via TheVinylFactory.com)
That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog today and for showing your support. It is very hard to believe that it’s been almost an entire week since RP Boo made his return and proved that he’s still got it – but here we are. It is ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we divert our attention to the hyped new album release from the drummer Betamax and keyboardist Danalogue from The Comet Is Coming.
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