For the past couple of years, Vels Trio keys player Jack Stephenson-Oliver and producer Barney ‘Footshooter’ Whittaker have been working closely together as SAUL, a new outlet that’s given them the opportunity to step into the studio with musicians, singers and producers they admire for a series of releases that touch on jazz, broken beat, and more.
The next chapter of this new joint venture is the upcoming Mutualism EP, which is due to land August 19, and as the name suggests, the idea of collaboration is central to the whole endeavour. Team-ups with Natty Wylah, Allysha Joy of 30/70, aden, and Ezra Collective’s James Mollison can all be expected, but ahead of that they’ve shared the EP’s other collaboration, “Flowers” with smoky-toned poet Lex Amor.
Lex Amor’s inimitable delivery is juxtaposed against a gently shimmering instrumental with a gently bouncing beat and just a hint of low end to drive things forward. There are only a few well-deployed elements at play here, but somehow it packs the heat and density of a warm, humid evening with just the gentlest breeze to cut through it all.
Sharing her thoughts on the track, Lex Amor explains: “‘Flowers’ is about things getting better. The unshakeable pattern of redemption. Through life, through relationships, over time. Shit gets better—it’s about the flowers blooming—even on the bad years.”
Speaking on the EP as a whole, Barney adds: “The feature performances are all very different, the way they worked on the tracks really brought each one to life in a big way”.
Ahead of the EP’s release on August 19 (pre-order here), take in “Flowers” at the top.
