Last year, Glasgow grime producer and Internet Public Radio host Kami-O wowed us all with his expansive Lightworks EP, pulling together East Asian melodies, industrial thump, plenty of bass and some inspired sample choices. Now, however, he’s presenting something slightly closer to home and a great deal more personal to him: Biren. Ahead of the project’s April 23 release date, he’s just liberated key track, “Yoddha”.
Heavily inspired by, and named after, his late grandfather (he also dedicates the album to his memory and the artwork was created by his mother), Biren also takes a lot of cues from the producer’s Indian heritage, threading various traditional instruments and compositional structures into a patchwork that could only very loosely be described as grime.
On “Yoddha” that means a haunting choir of stringed instruments, each taking turns to creep in and out of the mix to ominous effect. Balancing out those moody atmospherics are the ever-present, lurching bass line and an intricate drum pattern that gallops through the mix and gives the whole thing its energetic backbone.
Tune in below and look out for the rest of Biren when it drops April 23. Pre-order it here.
