REVIEW: MO KOLOURS – EP1: DRUM TALKING

Mo Kolours
EP1: Drum Talking
OneHandedMusic

There’s something of the summer in Mo Kolours‘ debut EP; he seems to project the gently fatigued contentment of the school holidays. As its title telegraphs, the music is largely drum-led, with steady grooves that recall J Dilla and ?uestlove’s production and instrumental work for Common’s Like Water for Chocolate. Biddies in particular, with its balance of pulsing bass and shakers, is compellingly reminiscent of the above; albeit with the rapping replaced by a mix of breathy vocals that gesture towards polytonal African singing.

Throughout the EP Mo Kolour’s voice is embedded into the mix, and presented in a manner that makes gestures towards the dusty residue of ethnographic field recordings. The backing vocals for ‘Blackbird’ burp and expel like a Bobby McFerrin track, providing a bedding for the most casual of re-interpretations of the Beatles’ track. Elsewhere the squelching bass on ’8 Hours’ gives it a loose P-Funk strut, and in fact both “Casual” and “loose” seem appropriate labels. The music often has a lo-fi feel; the tracks tend not to make any great transition, instead they feel like rough sketches, albeit charismatic ones. Mo Kolours has made an EP that showcases his talents both as a singer and percussionist; it’ll be good to see what having to create a full album of material will bring.

Words: Andrew Spragg

Filed under: Reviews, Uncategorized by J.G.