The issue of sub-genres has always been a bit of a taboo subject within music. The recent Red Bull 'Hashtag$' series, in which they interviewed and filmed different artists in regards to sub genres that people label them as, touched upon one new style of music that has been immensely popular in recent times; Alt R&B. A genre that was built upon by the success stories of artists such as The Weeknd, Frank Ocean and most recently the emergence of sultry songstress Banks.
I personally hate to box people into genres, preferring to give all music a much broader outlook, but if I had to describe the debut single from London based new girl on the block, SLK (pronounced Silk), it would definitely fit under the 'alternative' category. "Ride" combines those deep, bass driven kicks that really hit you, whilst plucky synths play scintillating melodies on top of some reverb drenched percussion. With such an eclectic sound on the Embody produced a dark yet silky instrumental, it really takes a strong voice to cut through and own the track, and I certainly wasn't expecting what I heard. As soon as SLK starts to soulfully sing the intimate and meaningful lyrics, she shows incredible poise and control throughout, reaching a wide range of notes in the process, demonstrating her amazingly clear and soothing voice against the atmospheric backdrop set out for her by Embody.
"Ride" in a breathtaking debut from SLK, and probably one of the best debut singles I've heard in a long, long while. Considering that she was somewhat of an unknown entity before this debut track, SLK has delivered a piece of alternative gold with "Ride". If this is a sign of things to come, it would appear that the London based songstress is about to stick around for a long while yet. Be sure to stream the track below, and keep your eyes and ears peeled onto EARMILK for any new music coming from SLK.
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