XL Recordings, a UK-based independent record label, has gotten behind some of your favorite indie success stories and is celebrated heavily because of their consistent quality when it comes to signing artists (among their signees, there's Adele). Richard Russell, the 45-year old label head, has taken on a music initiative that goes outside day-to-day management of the company, as he veers into production and executive production efforts. The results, as you can tell from this latest offering, are nothing shy of great.
The song is a collaboration between two underrated r'n'b singers, Syd and Sampha, over a soft but groovy production, as the two aim to bridge the gap between London and Los Angeles, trading verses. Syd delivers the hook, with the beat changing up to something quite luxurious for it, before going back to a dryer, darker sound for verses from both singers. The song will appear on Everything Is Recorded which is Russell's pet project of sorts, as he pairs a variety of artists over his own lush productions. The song serves as a follow-up to Everything Is Recorded's last single, "Mountains of Gold," which featured the cast of: Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki and Kamasi Washington.
This latest collaboration will hit streaming services at Midnight, but you can already get your listen on with the Youtube video stream. The video itself is of nothing and everything, it gives us a look at the lyrics, scrawled across duct tape that's plastered around the recording studio room -- thus giving us peak at Russell's studio set-up, located in west London, it's been dubbed The Copper House.
Take a listen, or watch, and stay tuned for more releases from the upcoming Everything Is Recorded compilation album. Let us know what you think of this collaboration. If you haven't yet, you should definitely check out Syd's EP Always Never Home, released in September.
Quotable Lyrics
I've been working overtime
I got plenty on my mind
I been out here moving mountains
Turning pennies into dimes
Tell your neighbors I'm on the rise
Traded favours for all the lies
- Syd