COOLY G
PLAYIN' ME (HYPERDUB)
On "Playin' Me" COOLY G displays the full spectrum of her sound, plummeting from her sometimes melancholy, sometimes romantic songs through to her more menacing, trackier style.
Recorded without any frills in her home studio, the album simultaneously recalls a legacy of black British music, filtering the female pressure and reggae lilt of lovers rock's kitchen sink dramas, the sweet seduction of 80s-flavoured "Quiet Storm" soul, through to sour, bitter-sweet synths, and the polyrhythmic dub decay of early jungle and tough tribal drums.
e Said I said' sets the tone in dramatic fashion with some guitar licks borrowed from a Spaghetti Western before the smouldering lyrics "What The World Needs Now" is a dreamy, uplifting stepper with big summery strings.
"Come Into My Room" is romantic and piano-led, with smooth Arp strings, breaking into twinkling 808 cowbells and teasing with rushing drum patterns midway through.
"Good Times" pleads over cold droplets and shivering synths while, by contrast, "Sunshine" is a mid-summer skank.
The more ambient refrain of "Trying" sounds like an intro to a classic Jungle track whose sub bass undertow never resolves in a drop.
By the time we get to 'Playin' Me', the romance has started turning a bit sour, and rage amps up through an in your face bass riff, that bulldozes through swirling strings and tough kick drums.
The biggest surprise of the record is Cooly's cover of Coldplay's "Trouble", making it shiver and bounce with a strange clockwork rhythm and epic techno strings.
It's a talented and brave producer that can make a Coldplay song sound fresh and the song sits naturally in the album's flow.
"What Airtime" starts the album's slide towards instrumentals, with hard drum track echoes and stormy mood.
"It's Serious" featuring Baltimore house legend Karizma is a masterclass in sustaining dark, heads down energy whilst filling a track with twists and turns and rhythmic trapdoors.
"Is it Gone" is wonkier still, spinning together dubbed vocals and drums into weird collisions recalling prime period Metalheadz of Rufige Kru and Source Direct.
She concludes the album on the more colourful and heady "Up In My Head", combining her stop start rhythms with intoxicated vocals.