{"id":21963,"date":"2020-11-15T14:09:56","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T14:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=21963"},"modified":"2020-11-23T12:53:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T12:53:53","slug":"artist-of-the-month-liam-bailey-ekundayo-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/artist-of-the-month-liam-bailey-ekundayo-review\/","title":{"rendered":"ARTIST OF THE MONTH: LIAM BAILEY – Ekundayo – Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”21964″ img_size=”full” full_width=”1″ opacity=”100″][vc_column_text]NG\u2019s beloved Liam Bailey has just dropped his new album. And it\u2019s quite the return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beautifully titled, \u2018Ekundayo\u2019 translates to sorrow becomes joy. This album includes a wide breadth of genres with songs that will give you full on goosebumps contrast to tracks that will make you want to have skank it out at The Maze (RIP). \u2018Ekundayo\u2019 is entirely produced by New Yorks \u2018Leon Michels\u2019, who is responsible for works from Lana Del Ray to Lee Fields. Not too shabby, ay?<\/span><\/p>\n

The album\u2019s stunning opener \u2018Awkward\u2019 instantly injects you with complete ethereal relaxation. It\u2019s like a lavender ear bomb you didn\u2019t know you needed. Soulful but sweet, with lush, emotional and fantastically produced vocals, it’s an inuncredibly apt intro.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up – REGGAE LIAM IS BACK! Transitioning into tracks \u2018Champion\u2019 and\u00a0 \u2018White Light\u2019. Songs that feel vintage, but also contemporary – Vintage Contemporary – future album name there for ya Liam. The basslines are heavyyyy, and \u2018White Light\u2019 is just pure retro vibrations. Without sounding like a moron – it\u2019s a proper eargasm.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/1uc4m7S4K_U”][vc_column_text]\u2018Don\u2019t Blame NY\u2019 transitions us to soul and Liam\u2019s smooth vocals bring everything together perfectly. His voice blends to each genre like a NG chameleon and it’s really impressive. The double layered vocals and distinct dynamics combine to make plenty of \u2018fuck this is great\u2019 moments, and that only continues…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Fight\u2019 features beaut keys, crispy clear vocals. Still on the reggae vibes, but this ones a bit more 2020 Reggae. The basslines again – prominent – quite likely to initially piss off your neighbour, but then have them asking what the song is cos I don\u2019t think Shazam works thru walls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Vixit\u2019 is emotional, raw and makes you feel like Liam is sitting in your room with an acoustic guitar singing to you. Maybe the neighbour will ask to come round. Liam\u2019s voice cracking in all the right places – raw, real, and a personal favourite of mine on the album.<\/span><\/p>\n

The record comes to a close with \u2018Paper Tiger\u2019. Emotional, but with a\u2026 you guessed it – badass bassline. Keys warbly and soulful. There are just so many surprise additions in this track. It sounds mega. Mega mega mega.<\/span><\/p>\n

The combination of genres in \u2018Ekundayo\u2019 is incredibly expansive, yet perfectly done. In a world where no one knows what the fuck a genre actually is anymore – Liam comes thru, tying a bunch of em together in perfect harmony,<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for the music Liam. Welcome back.<\/span><\/p>\n

EKUNDAYO is out now on Big Crown Records.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Yours in Love of New Music,<\/span>
\n<\/span>Katie Lyle x<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”21964″ img_size=”full” full_width=”1″ opacity=”100″][vc_column_text]NG\u2019s beloved Liam Bailey has just dropped his new album. And it\u2019s quite the return. Beautifully titled, \u2018Ekundayo\u2019 translates to sorrow becomes joy. This album includes a wide breadth of genres with songs that will give you full on goosebumps contrast to tracks that will make you want to have skank…<\/p>\n

<\/small>Continue reading<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[185,4,15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-artist-of-the-month","8":"category-blog","9":"category-reviews","10":"entry-post-skin-dark","11":"entry","12":"clearfix","13":"entry-grid","14":"entry-columns-default","15":"entry-post-module-layout-fullwidth","16":"thumbnail-color-tone-light","17":"is-youtube","18":"entry-post","20":"entry-post-grid"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21963"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21966,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21963\/revisions\/21966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}