Planet Mu Records
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It's about love, loyalty, family and the start and end of relationships, with an overarching theme about becoming a father, all delivered with warmth and emotion.Visit product page →
Miles even sings and so does his eldest son Milo on one track. About the theme he says, 'we all know the stereotype of the black dad with multiple children from multiple partners who is absent from the child's life, we see it consistently in popular culture. I want to champion the alternative, which to me is just normal.' As well as being a producer Miles is the co-founder of the Boxed nights, which have been a tight incubator of a music scene dedicated in the main to re-thinking and expanding what grime means, especially instrumental grime.
Mitch has always taken it further than most in a unique direction, defining his music led by his own personality rather than deferring to a scene consensus. An early example was his development of peace edits'in response to the aggressive war dubs'craze amongst other grime producers, around the time of his first album.
Production-wise Mr. Mitch has always been a minimalist at heart, pushing detailed sound and melody around in space, but on Devout everything is more ambitious, emotive and polished, taking his music in an epic and well defined pop direction, albeit from a sideways angle, re-imagining what an album by an underground producer can be. Devout's cast of male and female allies, MC's and singers each deliver songs that cast perspective around the album's theme.
Mr. Mitch sets the scene with the graceful honesty of the piano led intro, then P Money drops a heartfelt and emotional lyric about the charge of love and responsibility experienced on becoming a dad. Denai Moore's song Fate'is open about being sceptical in allowing yourself to fall for someone at the start of a relationship, while Palmistry's track VPN'explores his feelings after separation.
The warm centre of Devout'is My Life's heart-tugging Sakamoto-like melody and bent keys, with Miles gently intoning 'It's yours' and final song Oscar'tells a newborn his brother will be an elder brother. Devout is a beautiful, grown-up pop record with its foundation in grime.
Tracklisting:
2LP
Side A:
1. Intro (ft. Milo and Oscar)
2. Priority (ft. P Money)
3. Lost Touch (ft. Duval Timothy)
Side B:
1. Fate (ft. Denai Moore)
2. If I Wanted
3. VPN (ft. Palmistry)
Side C:
1. My Life
2. Pleasure (ft. Py)
3. Honor Oak
Side D:
1. Our Love
2. Black Tide
3. Oscar
CD:
1. Intro (ft. Milo and Oscar)
2. Priority (ft. P Money)
3. Lost Touch (ft. Duval Timothy)
4. Fate (ft. Denai Moore)
5. If I Wanted
6. VPN (ft. Palmistry)
7. My Life
8. Pleasure (ft. Py)
9. Honor Oak
10. Our Love
11. Black Tide
12. Oscar -
Mr. Mitch is one of a small group of producers who in the last few years have been re-imagining the decade-old genre of Grime. Miles Mitchell, a 26 year-old South East Londoner, started his own Gobstopper label back in 2010 after having his debut release on Butterz. Last year he started the flourishing Boxed 'Instrumental Grime' night alongside producers Slackk, Logos and Oil Gang.Visit product page →
For Mr. Mitch, Grime has " - ¦always been an experimental and progressive genre, taking elements of what came before it and pushing those boundaries to create something new".His debut album is called 'Parallel Memories' and Miles has an intriguing story that explains that title. When listening to his tracks, he sees the same vivid scenes in his head each time he replays the music, often repeated snapshots of his life in various impossible scenarios or distorted situations.
This made him think "What if the images I'm seeing are memories from an alternative version of me in a parallel dimension?" A question which reflects his vision of Grime too, as his instrumentals are informed by a quite personal and emotive alter-life, where Grime's famous minimalism gives way to a gentle subtlety and is imbued with a very different feeling to the brash aggression associated with the genre.The album intro 'Afternoon After' is the bleary-eyed sound of the club the night before, broken down into swirling child-like synth melodies, coiling over flattened, but airy kick drums. 'The Night' follows, sounding like something Boards Of Canada might do if they came from S.E.
London, its gorgeous flute melodies opening up gracefully over minimal rhythms and shifting static tones. 'Intense Faces' marks a shift in the energy to bassline, synth swoops and sharp claps, a child-like bleep tune playing out over the top. 'Don't Leave' switches the mood to one of sadness, its rising chords evolving over a repeated, slowed-down acapella. Elsewhere 'Sweet Boy Code', a collaboration with fellow Gobstopper artist Dark0, lets spacey kicks propel its gentle relaxed melodies over airy sampled vocals.
The midpoint track 'Wandering Glaciers' twists Grime into what sounds like a tense piece of early electronica. Meanwhile 'Bullion' chops up a lumbering sample that sound like a marauding giant.
The album finishes on 'Hot Air', with its drum pattern sounding like a slow heart beat and strange, backwards synths, it feels like a voyage around a body.This is an album that deserves to find an audience who are willing to go on a journey into new areas with Grime.
Vinyl 2xLP
Side A:
1. Afternoon After
2. The Night
3. Intense Faces
Side B:
4. Don't Leave
5. It Takes Hold Of You
6. Sweet Boy Code (Ft. Dark0)
Side C:
7. Wandering Glaciers
8. Feel (Don't Ask)
9. Bullion
Side D:
10. Denial
11. Fly Soup
12. Hot Air
CD:
1. Afternoon After
2. The Night
3. Intense Faces
4. Don't Leave
5. It Takes Hold Of You
6. Sweet Boy Code (Ft. Dark0)
7. Wandering Glaciers
8. Feel (Don't Ask)
9. Bullion
10. Denial
11. Fly Soup
12. Hot Air -
Mr. Mitch is one of a group of producers who have re-envisioned Grime in the last few years, infecting the scene with a progressive and often surprising energy.Visit product page →
He's 26 years old and started his own Gobstopper label back in 2010 after having his debut release on Butterz. Last year he started the flourishing Boxed 'Instrumental Grime' night alongside producers Slackk, Logos and Oil Gang. For Mr. Mitch, Grime " - ¦has always been an experimental and progressive genre, taking elements of what came before it and pushing those boundaries to create something new". And so this four tracker, which drops before his debut album 'Parallel Memories', is a short but brilliant showcase of his delicate use of Grime's speed and sound and his ability to take it somewhere else.
The record starts with Boxed anthem 'Don't Leave' which chops and screws a repeated acapella, with spaced drum hits and light drizzly chords. It sounds extra sad and emotionally desolate, but within the Grime grid, it still feels tough. 'Be Somebody' elevates the mood, breathing in some much needed sunlight with a graceful twinkling melody and a hopeful but shy vocal refrain which complement each other perfectly over snapping claps and snares, all pivoting on a heavy sub bass.
'Padded' builds incredibly slowly, a tender melody snaking out across a simple kick and some exhausted sounding hand claps. The melody builds very gently and the track peaks midway with a contrasting noise that seems to shatter the track apart. 'Oh' finishes the EP, mixing slower criss-crossing drums with gently warping vocals that drift in and out of the mix while a soft marimba runs underneath.This is music that deserves to find a likeminded audience, progressive and not afraid of emotional depth.
Side A:
1. Don't Leave
2. Be Somebody
Side B:
3. Padded
4. Oh
