Naturalism / Brutalism III

Event Flyers

with thanks to Tabatha Azuma-Proctor for the cd-insert design

A concept EP taking the rigid forms of the Grime Music I love and was exposed to in the UK (Square basslines, intense percussion and hyper-masculine lyricism) and combining them with saccharine melodies and warped female vocal samples. The contrast between the “hard“ and “soft“ sounds used in the EP explores themes of gender and identity, and how to find “balance“ between masculine and feminine energy.
I wanted to reflect the DIY nature of the project in the cover, with the colourful and cutesy art speaking to the softer side of the EP’s contents. The drawing on the cassette cover is of me, and was done by a super talented Hungarian artist I connected with through Reddit.
1. personality (sampling Lily Allen)
2. angel_numbers (sampling Sadé and JME)
3. all_the_horses_awake (sampling Adele and Tempa T)
4. ok_i_luv_you (sampling Jackie Chan and JME)

The “market_bootlegs” special edition of “balance” was a vehicle to get out some extra tunes that didn’t fit the EP format, but I felt might be enjoyed by people who liked the original. It features all original tracks, in addition to extra verses and a bonus dubplate I made to thank my friends for their help planning Naturalism (where it debuted).
The design of this cover was a really tongue-in-cheek way of promoting the extra music. I imagined that the music had become so popular that poor-quality bootlegs were being produced of the original “cassette“. Truthfully it was just fun to make and made me laugh, and was good as a promotional story on social media before I had to pull the plug as lovely friends were checking if I was ok as my music had “leaked“.
1. personality (sampling Lily Allen)
2. angel_numbers (sampling Sadé)
3. all_the_horses_awake (sampling Adele and Tempa T)
4. ok_i_luv_you (sampling Jackie Chan and JME)
5. angel_numbers_w/_JME (sampling Sadé and JME)
6. casualty (all_the_horses_awake_w/_Tempa_T) (sampling Adele and Tempa T)
7. pink_crocs (w/_a_little_help_from_my_friends)

millennium_edition follows the same stylistic cues as balance, but develops on the themes of gender with a choral, futuristic sound. This, when combined an expanded palette of influences (such as wider global pop and Christian music), more granular sampling and better production aims to create a more “futuristic” and streamlined project.
The cover for millennium edition took influence from japanese magazine covers across the 2000s. Further, it was designed to look like a bootleg cd of an official project, with texture, print bleed and a rough plastic sleeve being used in order to convey the fake physicality and hyperreality of something that never existed.
1. mgx (sampling Enya)
2. just_for_me? (sampling PinkPantheress)
3. a_new_era_of_closeness (sampling 讚美之泉 Stream of Praise)
4. pastel_haze (sampling Kaira Rae’s cover of Frank Sinatra)