Perhaps more than most genres, reggae has a uniquely recognisable sound, yet like all sounds and styles, it still has to move with the times. So the challenge for any artist in this field is to make music that is familiar enough to reflect reggae’s strong sonic identity, yet bring something new, something fresh, something that reflects the band’s own identity to the table.
If you want to know what that might sound like, Dubwiser’s latest EP, A Part of Everything, is here to give you a masterclass in doing just that.
The title track kicks in with a glorious beat forged of slick guitar licks, dancing drum rhythms and buoyant bass, and perhaps their secret is not just the spaciousness that perfectly frames and separates each instrument or the harmony vocals that ooze through every sonic pore, but the West African vibes that Sierra Leonean brothers John and Eddy Smythe bring to the sound. Reggae might be the place that they call home, but Dubwiser likes to travel and travel, as we all know, broadens the musical mind. And if reggae is closely associated with music that advocates political change, or at least social improvement, the message here is simpler: it is better to be a small part of everything than the soul custodian of nothing. Something that gets to the heart of what it is to be human and also very relevant to this isolating age we live in.
‘Love Life’ exists at a place where reggae blends and bleeds into hip-hop via soul and Motown, a simple message about rekindling a relationship which seems to be losing its drive. ‘While You Slept’ picks up some Lover’s Rock vibes, a gentle groover for late nights and late-night slow dancing! Such a cool tune that there is even a bonus instrumental version to round the EP off.
‘Wi Mus’B 2Gather’ runs on a contagious four-on-the-floor stepper beat, urgent, infectious and full of forward momentum, and in this case, finessely flute-infused.
Reggae for the new age? Reggae that wanders freely into the realms of its sonic siblings and musical cousins? Recognisable sounds for a new age? Absolutely…A Part of Everything is all that and more.
