Obongjayar Drops ‘Bassey’ New EP

Obongjayar returns with another deeply intricate collection of tracks on brand new ‘Bassey’ EP.

‘Bassey’ comes as the follow up to last year’s debut ‘Home‘ and as we’ve come to expect with Obongjayar, his gift is in creating music filled with light and shade, interwoven drum patterns flex and curl throughout as his voice changes, thriving on a sonic palette that is at once percussive, internal and spiritual, he draws on all elements of the psyche to create.

A tight four track collection that features previously released single ‘Endless‘ with a video directed by the acclaimed Matilda Finn, ‘Bassey’ also incorporates production from Moses Boyd on both ‘Endless’ and ‘Gravity’, Melo-Zed (‘Spaceman’) and regular collaborator Lars Sylvest – the producer behind Obongjayar’s break out track ‘Creeping’. Poet and musician James Messiah makes a guest appearance on an EP that is filled with questions.

Where his debut held up the very concept of ‘home’ for examination, ‘Bassey’ is leads us only further into the rabbit hole:

I carry grudges like my house keys / they’re twice as heavy as my skin

Obongjayar’s talent is in his expression of vulnerability, pouring meaning, layer and nuance into each track, it’s easy to see why he has the attention of so many within the industry. “I think music now, the majority of the stuff, is very destructive.” he said when I asked what was to come earlier this year “I kinda wanna put something positive out there because I believe very strongly that what you listen to, the music you listen to, the stuff you watch, is very important. Especially to children, and people coming up, you need to put a positive message out there. Especially people of colour as well you can’t keep degrading yourself.”