Loosies Vol 1.
Artwork by Kieron Boothe
Enlisting the talent of what seems like half of the underground scene, ‘Loosies’ create a wide-ranging, eclectic project. Featuring vocalists, producers, rappers, artists and everything in between, ‘Vol. 1’ offers something for everyone. Opening with a laid-back, soulful track from Kinkai, ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Was In Quarantine’, produced by Cay Caleb perfectly sets the tone and lures you in with its mellow-beat and KinKai’s gritty, soulful vocals.
Moving into a slightly darker take, ‘Polarbear’ navigated by Lex Amor’s slow-eerie flow and effortlessly poetic verses and Temesgen Samuel bringing a slightly lighter touch, perfectly balancing the feel of the track. Produced by Rei Sky, the instrumental takes on a simplistic trap-percussion style with its sloping melody allowing the poetic lyricism to shine through.
Honing a more uptempo-feel for ‘Hallex’, SMOKINGINDOORS’ distorted, displaced-percussion and lo-fi-esque beat creates a perfect playground for Suelily to lay her soft and soulful vocals around. It’s sampled hook and ethereal feel allow this track to take the project to a whole new place, in a matter of minutes. Continuing with its ever-evolving feeling, ‘Comfort’ bursts in with Dani Sofiya’s neo-soul influenced vocals fitting intriguingly into every pocket of Richie Saps production before he comes in with a heartfelt verse of his own.
Ushering a more chilled vibe, ‘Wait For Me’ hosts Eklipse’s vulnerable lyricism and fluid flow over Cay Caleb’s lo-fi-inspired, chill-hop instrumental. Moving into Intalekt and RKay’s part-funk, part-neo-soul induced instrumental for ‘Feel It’ alongside Ayeisha Raquel taking on a jazz-influenced melody within her soul-inspired vocals bringing a late 90’s neo-soul vibe to the track before TINYMAN enters with his smooth-flow and clever lyricism.
Slowing us down, the project artworker, Kieron Boothe drops in with stripped-back, jazz-horn production from Lysser and Alma on ‘One Love’. Kieron brings an optimistic verse alongside vocals from Stephanie Santiago with the production creating a colourful background in which for the rapper to paint a gratitude-felt atmosphere. Quickly switching it up, ‘Feel’ features introverted vocals from Catherine Sera perfectly adjusting to Scott Xylo’s wonderfully, off-beat instrumental.
Dips begins to close out the first volume of The Loosies Project with a harmonised-acapella on, ‘Quarantine Diaries’. Building the production around his harmonies, he also drops a quarantine-inspired verse touching on a variety of relatable feelings from the past month of isolation. Rounding out the first instalment of these creatively-minded projects, ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ features verses draped in imagery from Udo and experimentally-directed production from KamQu. This project is a beautiful-cohesion of the UK’s finest underground music from various genres, creating a sense of togetherness and with it an eclectic album to be reckoned with.