London producer Shafkkat has been quietly building something worth paying attention to, and the latest track from his forthcoming In The Wind EP make a compelling case for why that attention is overdue.
"Tides," featuring vocalist Jess Young, is the more ambitious of the recent releases and arguably the most rewarding. It opens with cinematic strings that feel almost startlingly emotive before the track shifts into UK funky-inspired drums, tabla percussion, and a bassline with real physical weight to it. What's impressive is how Shafkkat holds all of that together without the seams showing — this is production that could easily feel overcrowded, but instead feels considered. It's a track that has led to significant streaming support, with Spotify featuring the track on their influential Altar playlist.
Young's vocal is the final, crucial ingredient. Moving through uncertainty before opening into something more hopeful, her performance gives "Tides" a fragility that keeps it from being simply a well-constructed club record. It becomes something closer to an emotional reckoning that happens to work on a dancefloor, which is a much harder thing to pull off.
Two singles in, the In The Wind EP is already shaping up to be one of the more thoughtfully constructed electronic releases of the summer.
