Ant Lavelle doesn't have an obvious allegiance with any of London's existing rap tribes. With a slow and steady release of singles over the past few years, and a collective, Love Hate Records, under his direction, his sound has shades of Loyle Carner, but far less sunny, less able to comfortably score your summer festival highlights reel.
Appropriate then, that his newest single drops not long after Blue Monday – a super-short cut premiered here today by Complex. "Come Die With Me" approaches the subject of suicidal ideation with a nonchalance and whiskey in hand. The video—directed by Toby Haygarth—sees Lavelle play a cast of characters in a seedy basement bar: the listless punter drowning his sorrows; the sharp-suited bartender; the tacky pub singer giving it a little too much for a week night. Lavelle's lines are literary, his flow languorous, trying to talk his girl into various methods of chemical escape.
Production is handled by LA native frumhere, whose SoundCloud is a diamond-mine of shuffling break-up beats. "Come Die With Me" typifies his glitch-laced style—percussion fashioned from glass clinks, clicks and fizzes, a muted saxophone bobbing in the mix. Chasing "Come Die With Me", Lavelle is poised to drop a four-track EP with producer Ghilburt later this year. On the merit of their last collaborations—notably the gorgeous double-time single "No Mind"—it'll be one to watch for.
"Come Die With Me" is out February 7 via Love Hate Records.
