It’s not everyday grime on The Art of Grime. I was scrolling Twitter on a very late weekend before bed and ran into “Dualities” on the timeline, a two-track EP from West London emcee Space and singer Ana Barrena.
Space is a young emcee and producer with a fair bit of material out there, the majority of it released in the past two years. His last EP – titled “Loading Bars” – was released back in 2019. The record is a mixture of grime, rap and drill, with a heavy Super Mario theme to boot. The standout track from “Loading Bars” is ‘Mario’s Dead’, so check that one out if you get a minute.
There isn’t much of an online presence for Ana Barrena, save for one track on Spotify titled ‘Brighter‘, a plush soul track with great vocals that tells the tale of a burgeoning romance.
It would be pretty easy to mark “Dualities” down as neo-soul or nu-R&B, but this blog isn’t about tedious genre tags, and the record sounds like two artists genuinely trying to experiment and create something that sounds cool. Opening track ‘Talking to Myself’ features Space singing about the trials of life, featuring some nice vocal interplay between the two vocalists. The instrumentation on the beat is rich but coloured with some subtle atonal elements that give the track an underground edge. ‘Talking To You’ is an ode to the warmer seasons, perfect for shutting out the noise and going into your own world.
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