Sully
Carrier
Keysound Records, 2011
As soon as the first hollow rim-shots drop in “It’s Your Love,” it’s clear that Sully has found much creative inspiration in the recent past of British two-step garage. The jittery, uneven, yet ultimately danceable drum patterns distinctly mark the first half of the record, but at no point does Carrier come across as a work of pastiche. Careful touches of rugged bass and magnificent harmonies combine to push the record firmly into this decade. Perhaps the best example of Sully’s take on future garage is “2 Hearts.” After opening with a diva scream that hearkens back to Larry Levan’s heyday at the Paradise Garage, the track surges forward with triumphant chords likely composed of rapid fire from a laser gun and snares that bare more resemblance to the thin, aluminum lids of garbage cans than to the wooden drums of the past.
At the halfway point the album shifts gears, as Sully abstractly deploys the percussive structures of Chicago’s up-tempo siblings, juke (or booty house) and footwork, to great effect. Hurried hi-hats and staggered tom-toms create an aggressive, kinetic feel on the otherwise meditative “I Know,” full of deep groans and piano melodies that hang in the air with a grimy melancholy. “Trust,” juxtaposes similarly brisk rhythmic programming with a pensive harmonic structure, highlighting the record’s most emotive vocals, which in alternating baritone and chipmunk-soprano, emptily declare, “I believe, I believe in…”
The record’s varied content and far-flung influences reflect the rapidly diversifying London dance scene. As the mainstream has taken possession of dubstep (or a form of it, at least), London’s underground producers are on the lookout for new sounds to fill the void. House’s most recent incarnation, UK funky, is on the rise in the British capital; future garage, dubstep’s closest living relative, is spinning every night on records with Fantastic Mr. Fox, George FitzGerald, and Eliphino’s names on them; and artists like Addison Groove are mixing juke and footwork into the stylistic soup. Sully’s particularly sophisticated take on the scene’s evolution will please those who have been keeping in touch, and should help to assuage any fears that London’s creative capital is in decline.
Purchase and preview the album on iTunes.
Listen to Sully’s “2 Hearts” on YouTube.
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