With production credits for UK rap legend Lowkey, Mai Khalil, Awate (Noisey, BBC 1Xtra, The Line Of Best Fit) and Unsigned Music Award nominated songstress Davina Oriakhi, as well as previous support from the likes of Earmilk and SoulBounce, for his production work, and highly recommended if you like Flying Lotus, Ta-Ku, Mndsgn and J Dilla, London-bred Albanian producer and musician Gabriel Ryder is proud to debut his brand new EP titled DarkSummer.
Perfectly tapping into his Albanian heritage and East London upbringing, Gabriel Ryder is a masterful producer and music maker, who fuses together polar opposite music genres from Hip-Hop and Grime, to R&B and Soul, to Jazz and Classical music, to create some of the best off-kilter, exquisite and psychedelic music coming out of the UK in 2018.
This is very evident on his 6-track debut offering DarkSummer, which he described as a “journey through my state of mind while going through an episode of depression a few summers ago”.
The EP opens with “Ghost Around” featuring Roundhouse and PRS For Music supported ArA Harmonic, before the slow building trippy boundary-pushing “Red Moon” with its nod to Kaytranada, and the psychedelic and acid jazz inspiring “Oh S**t”.
The two-part “Glow//Drowning” featuring Davina Oriakhi kicks things off rather bright and vibrant, before crashing into a captivating minimalistic piano-led ending, and “Master Roshi” is a rampant ode to Grime and UK rap, while the EP title track “DarkSummer” closes out the EP in religious and reverent mood.
Speaking about the inspiration for his DarkSummer EP, Gabriel Ryder says, “this EP was cathartic for me, in that I spilled my emotions, feelings and thoughts into the music. I was inspired by the music of Flying Lotus, Ta-ku, and others to create a project that could encapsulate my mood at the time.
It resulted in tracks such as ‘Glow//Drowning’ and the title track ‘DarkSummer’. I was also inspired by the sounds of London, having grown up there, and wanting to blend these influences together, resulting in tracks such as ‘Ghost Around’ and ‘Master Roshi’”.
#Peace.Love.DarkSummer
