tasha3000
I genuinely love this music. I've listened to it on repeat and cannot convey how beautiful it is. The way the sax and the vocals flow into each other is organic and perfect. Somehow, every part is exactly where it is supposed to be. Wow. The music is calm, elegant and comforting all in one. Thank you so much!
Wrote this song
Bathing in starlight
Laid there till morning
Caught by a sea of lights
Offered my body up
As my sacrifice
Braced myself for the rush
Opened my eyes
Free as a bird
Light as a butterfly
Never knew it would hurt
Free falling from the sky
But it feels like a dream
Did it hurt when you fell from heaven
Caught a ride on your wings
Swept me right off my feet
And it’s only a quarter to 11
But I feel like I’m dreaming
Yeah it feels like a dream
But I can’t fall asleep
Say you don’t love me anymore
Cue the celebration on the kitchen floor
Say you’re not mine and I’m not yours
Bitter separation
Left with no remorse
They say love is pain
Got no one to blame
I guess love is war
With nothing to gain
I penalize my brain
For my heart’s mistake
Brought me to my knees
So much I can take
I want you to rain down on me
Swallowed all my pride
Marked my dignity
Why don’t you just wait it out
Don’t leave
Hidden all my vices
All these sacrifices
Now a dub is a guy that thinks he’s fine
He’s so mesmerized by all my diamonds
I see it in your eyes make up your mind can’t get no love from me
A scrub is a guy
Yeah
And I see it in your eyes make up your mind can’t get no love from me
Love + war
I guess all is fair game, love + war
I guess all is fair in games of love + war
British musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ cktrl returns with the release of his new EP ‘yield’.
Born from a desire to change the narrative around contemporary Black British music, the boundary-pushing musician aims with this project to prioritise the art of bonafide musicianship. A stark departure from cktrl’s previous work, ‘Yield’ is a celestial and palpably more inward body of work that harkens back to the pre-electric age of modal jazz while simultaneously pulling in elements from the disciplines of classical and baroque music.
Speaking on the project’s sonic identity, cktrl says:
“I want to be able to show that you can make things from scratch again that have that feeling and beauty without having to sample an old record. Even though that’s an art-form within itself, I want to show raw orchestration and instrumentation can be the sole source”
The origins of the title came from a period where cktrl was looking to find solace in himself after an introspective period of grief and heartbreak. As an intentionally instrumental project with minimal vocals, cktrl wants prospective listeners to see these new songs as guided meditations where they can wholly insert themselves in it. Eliciting and reaping whatever feelings come to the fore.
Speaking on what ‘Yield’ means to him as a concept, cktrl explains:
“Some people who I've asked to define the word ‘yield’ have looked at it from a harvest point of view, whereas others have seen it as something to submit to, to render, like you're giving up yourself. I see it as a barometer for how you feel - no matter if you're at your lowest or your highest vibration, you still need to show up for yourself. You still have to be present. It’s about getting the best from yourself no matter where you are in life”
The new project is the follow up to last year’s ‘Zero’ which featured collaborations with esteemed contemporaries like the GRAMMY-nominated Mereba and anaiis. Upon the project’s release, it was met with a plethora of critical acclaim from highly regarded publications and platform such as British Vogue, Dazed, CRACK Magazine, Resident Advisor, NOTION, Harper's Bazaar and ES Magazine for its sprawling and experimental scope, spanning avant-garde jazz, classical music, alternative R&B and electronica.
Moulded by a unique blend of his West Indian heritage, years of classical training in both the clarinet and saxophone, cktrl strives to do what hasn’t been done before. His approach to creation is decidedly wide-ranging and broad. In fact, where sonic descriptions might fail to encompass the breadth of cktrl’s scope, three words surface when he unpacks his musical aims: freedom, range and feeling.
Elsewhere, throughout his career, cktrl has been recognised and heralded by fashion and film VIPs as he firmly embeds himself within the black cultural renaissance emerging here in Britain. Acquiring a global network of creatives that include the late Virgil Abloh, Bianca Saunders, Tremaine Emory, Saul Nash, Maximilian Davis, Ahluwalia, Stephen Isaac Wilson, Sean Frank, Campbell Addy, Ib Kamara and Jenn Nkiru who secured him a cameo in Beyoncé’s ground-breaking film ‘Black Is King’.
Vinyl tracklist;
1. note
2. yield
3. lucidly
4. night i pine
5. love + war
6. b
7. marcescent
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell