"so little did it do, still found myself losing you..."
Danish producer Xfarm who has been making beats since 1993 while cultivating his hip hop steps, side steps, scratchy and clear aesthetic every since. The first time he collaborated with Joy Morgan was on his 2012 album "Flugten". Joy's smoky resonant vocals feel iconic and she has been a fixture in the Danish music scene (Nobody Beats the Beats / Pedling). Xfarm and Joy are back together on evocative EP called "Different Variations of Heartache". Clocking in at less than 13 minutes, the 4 tracks pack a collective artistic wallop. Xfarm injects such a filmic quality, casting imagery that feels foreboding while at the same time pulling the sadness down letting it ride on rich grooves.
As the title suggests all the songs are connected floating in the moody fog and emotional clouds inherent in a tumultuous broken relationship. Joy Morgan's vox are drop dead gorgeous and she is the perfect narrator. With a husky, throaty vocal aesthetic, she can sound pissed off, sage like, aloof and empowered all the while keeping her vocal embellishments artistically on the down low keeping the emotional context incredibly earnest and real. For the most part, she is predominantly the singular voice but on the dramatic torch burner "Leaving" her beautiful self harmonies are layered in. This track might feel the most organic as the bed that Xfarm creates propels on a slapping beat, Hammond-esque organ sounds, drenched in dark blues and gospel intertwined. Other tracks like the opener, "Falling Stars", he clips sounds and brings in ambient tones. Grand piano sounds with ascending synths provide a stark open sound for Joy's swagger. I am thoroughly digging the trip hop-esque beat that falls in and out. This track appropriately feels like opening curtains, like it is a theme to a movie or the latest Netflix binger. Xfarm expertly constructs "Cried" on on a sonic clip and stirs in record scratches and such a captivating beat / bass groove that stair steps and steps back. A passage for Joy's steely eyed fatalistic declarations, "you will follow me on my path seeing me through all kinds of sorrow".
The last song, "Crade to Grave", feels like a sonic 16 millimeter film. Xfarm turns on the nostalgic broken, scratchiness and, again, Joy's self harmonies are so deeply pretty. You can see her stepping over the carnage of a relationship but coming out on top. Her vocals, "I'm just a failed memory of your time", doesn't suggest a bleeding pain but more of an acknowledgment, maybe even a 'fuck you' on the way out. I absolutely love when the Fender Rhodes-ish keys provide such a sad melody in solitary, for Joy's final words. It is such a deeply cool final coda. As I listen, watch this movie in my head (I mean "Different Variations of Heartache" even sounds like an art film) my desire is for some amazing film maker to make such a film based on these songs. How awesome would this be?
-Robb Donker Curtius
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Joy Morgan
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.deezer.com/us/track/1638324142
Xfarm is a Danish producer, Who have been making beats since 1993. He is rooted in the hip hop environment, and most of the stuff he released throughout his career have been based in that hip hop Sound. Once introduced to trip hop In 1994, that influenced him a lot too…
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Denmark, Copenhagen, Xfarm, writer, producer, musician, Joy Morgan, songstress, singer, jazz, hip hop, trip hop, indie pop, blues, Bristol sound, EP "Different Variations of Heartache", "Cried",
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