If there is one thing you shouldn’t be doing right now, it’s sleeping on fledgling Canadian label, Obsidian. They began the year with the magical ‘Loto‘ EP from Kairo and the enigmatic producer returned alongside Siadic for the equally powerful ‘Botanical‘ EP a few months later. The third edition of Obsidian magic arrives in the form of ‘Shapeshifter‘ EP, concocted by another Canadian wizard emerging from the shadows, Thuja.
Thuja conjures up three spellbinding tracks born from darkness and none is more potent than today’s premiere, ‘Welcome To The Party‘.
Placed with a purpose, today’s premiere ‘Welcome To The Party‘ enables Thuja to introduce the world to his alluring soundscapes. Deep, raspy vocal cuts of the late Pop Smoke foreshadow the evil whirring lows which ‘shapeshift’ rapidly, falling deeper down the Thuja rabbit hole. Flickers of light break through the low end storm by way of celestial chimes, bright and brilliant like innocent extra terrestrial lifeforms sparking up the dance, galaxies away.
The percussive driven ‘Shade‘, initially strips back to the fundamentals, but the classic combo of powerful drums and swelling distorted mids quickly grow into something wackier. Before you know it, like a fever dream, it progresses into a dizzying descent into madness, interjected by the legendary voice of MF Doom as Thuja displays more dark hip-hop influences. The final ‘Hunter‘ rounds off the trio with lasting aggression. Monstrous snarling synths slash into the pounding sub stomps, progressing into a blood curdling finale. Whilst the opener may still be the darker of the three, ‘Hunter‘ is definitely the wild animal to watch out for.
Although the music that features on Honey & Bass is inherently dark for the most part and consciously so, there’s something particularly refreshing about the darkness delivered by Obsidian. Like the releases that came before, ‘Shapeshifter‘ EP is a further example of the sonic potions brewing in dark corners of the Canadian suburbs and I guarantee they will eventually bewitch the bass bins of the dance worldwide.
‘Shapeshifter‘ EP is out 05/11/2021 and available to download from the Obsidian Bandcamp.
Check out Thuja on Soundcloud and Instagram.
Check out Obsidian on Soundcloud and Instagram.