After a two-year absence, Sami Switch has returned with a significant & totally startling seven-track EP titled Solace.
We had a listen:
Title track ‘Solace (Nearly Home)’ defines the struggle to find home (and sense of self.)
The twinge of anxiety is always present. But the pain is diluted by the sense of hope and the expectation of redemption.
Similarly, we can witness together (and feel) the strangling grip of loneliness with ‘Trying To Breathe’.
The voice maximizes the pressure brilliantly — racheting it up with toothed gears of rhythm.
And the moments of reflection, such as: “Learn to love your sober self…” never rankle. They feel honest, real and necessary.
‘Oh Why’ has generous (but dark) piano notes.
The voice trembles with ochre passion. But it is smooth in its caramelization.
And this sweetness helps the listener focus on how we must all suffer for a purpose.
We hope that the goal is love. But, quite simply, we will never know until we have completed the journey.
Luckily for us all, Sami did complete the journey and he did not ‘Self Destruct’ along the way.
Here, on this track, we can feel the isolation, dirt and emptiness that he endured. We step in his wake, and the pace is relentless and corrupting… With tiny muscles of life pulsing beneath the flourishing music above.
The rap points out that, very close to all the shine & glamour we might associate with ‘normal’ lives, another (barely perceptible) life also exists. This is a life of hopelessness, homelessness and addiction. This hidden life might be outside our knowledge right now... But all too quickly we could be part of it. If we don’t pay attention.
Perhaps this whole EP is a warning. But, more likely, it is collection of hymns of hope.
Provided, for us, so that we might not lose our way in similar circumstances to Sami. But to do that, we need to understand the real truths. What are they? Listen, he is trying to reveal them…
Here is clarification and redemption in the name of love. The finest and the most generous hip hop/soul we have heard all year.
Words: @neilmach 2015 ©
Link: https://www.facebook.com/sami.switch
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