Outside
Your House – The Ones That Left Town EP
DL
Out Now
Durham based
rapping duo release their new EP.
It seems
there are a million would-be rappers out there, some good, some not-so. It is therefore quite a relief to come across
an act doing something a little bit different.
Durham City
has spawned Outside Your House, a duo made up of Faithful Johannes and Jonathan
Swift who cut and mix up some cool beats and sounds to bring something very special
to the party. With a background of
poetry and folk, vocalist Johannes displays a skill for some brilliant rhyming
couplets and detailed lyrics which unfold into modern day reflections of
everyday feeling and society.
Where Outside
Your House differ is in their presentation.
There’s no shouty shouty vocalisation here as Faithful whispers his
words in a self-confessed style of ‘barely rap’ which is both calming and
intriguing. Swift supplies some amazing
backing from sampled vinyl records, beats and live work which add a mystique to
perfectly marry the vocals.
The
instrumentation is often sublime, the perfect accompanying to the murmur.
Dennis Taylor Style zips through trip-hop, jazz and avant garde in four
luscious minutes leaving the listener slightly dumfounded if not compelled to
hear more.
Often having
the scope for clumsiness, the mash-ups just see to gel perfectly. Opening with Photos Out There and the line
“I’m a vegetarian on a budget” the stage is set. Crackling vinyl flickers in the background
and a thumpy bass drum joins a looped acoustic guitar with observations on
relationships, the internet and Jacques Cousteau. As a sitar joins the track to close, you know
you’re not in for a regular trip.
Fading Out
(Like The Pictures On My Work ID) includes vocals from a voice not unlike Karen
Carpenter which brings a slightly haunting feel over a Jarvis Cocker diction
and a touch of the pschydelias, and Improbable Cities is a skilful play of
words over a sparse modern day electronica.
Bare, but slowly rising with the addition of an effective bass snare, it
wriggles along like a lizard in a hot tin with intentions of escape.
Six tracks
of pure originality and undoubted talent end with EP closer Forks where Swift adds
his own harmony to close. Two blokes
with an agenda that they will undoubtedly do their utmost to thrust onto all
and sundry. One EP that you must own.
8.5/10
Links
Outside Your House on Bandcamp
Outside Your House on Twitter
Outside Your House on Facebook
Published on Louder Than War 27/03/15 - here
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