Rarelyalways New EP
HACKNEY’S RARELYALWAYS RELEASES NEW TRACK ‘CAPTION’ AND ANNOUNCES UPCOMING EP
Out today via LA imprint Innovative Leisure, ‘Caption’ is the first single to be taken from Rarelyalways’ upcoming ‘Baby Buffalo’ EP. Early grime inspired his approach on the track, which embraces eventful snapshots with enough courage to frame them. “So glad I never dismissed this riddim,” he says. “I stumbled across my old hard-drive and couldn’t resist giving it a good old polish.”
Delving deep into the Hackney raised jazz musician, producer and vocalists vast skillset developed from a dizzying array of musical education and practice, ‘Baby Buffalo’ doesn’t really do the expected. He has walked his own path, absorbing culture and music from even the most unlikely sources, always focused on the big picture. Subtle hints of great British one-offs like Tricky, Roots Manuva or a more laid-back Dizzee Rascal are strewn across his scintillating 4 track debut, but ‘Baby Buffalo’ is a unique statement of intent; a whole ethical framework and worldview carefully constructed and boiled down into a clear, concise and easy to grasp expression.
Rarelyalways was always absorbed by music. His single dad was a drummer, playing mainly gospel. At home he heard Motown and reggae most of all, and thanks to his family's West African background, lots of Fela and other Afrobeat. At school he played percussion in Samba bands and learned classical instruments, but what he truly obsessed over was film music, notably Harry Potter and School of Rock. "Not going to lie, that film got me playing bass," he admits. A self-confessed ‘old head,’ he immersed in Led Zeppelin, Bob James and Earl Klugh, and if he listened to modern music it was stuff that echoed that seventies era. At the The Brit School he was able to indulge all his love of funk, rock and jazz, but also learn more about pop and other styles, and by the time he left, he'd joined a band, supporting acts like King Krule. “It was a big deal for me, playing with older guys, doing something and believing in the music. And it's all paying off now." Hanging around South London brought him into contact with the new jazz scene showed him what camaraderie and mutual support could mean to working musicians. Meanwhile work with youth projects and mentoring at-risk young people furthered his own understanding of peer pressure and its dangers, which would become a recurring theme in his own work.
‘BABY BUFFALO’ IS OUT VIA INNOVATIVE LEISURE ON 30TH OCTOBER