Survival & Resistance
On-U Sound (40 mins)
After releasing his first two solo albums (Never Trust a Hippy and Becoming a Cliché) on Real World Records, Adrian Sherwood completes the trilogy after 9 years with this release on On-U Sound – the legendary label he founded 21 years ago, home to African Head Charge, Tackhead and many other influential names in experimental dub.
While Sherwood’s previous two records placed emphasis on global beats and guest musicians, Survival & Resistance focusses on the producer’s mastery of the avant-garde dub style he helped to invent. Dubstep and ambient minimalism provide the heaviest influence in the producer’s experiments with the ubiquitous dub sound, with individual tracks displaying elements of Brazilian bossa, blues and hints of Arabic music (Kerry Ava’s cello evokes comparison with Egyptian virtuoso Emad Ashour). Together, these elements define the overall feel of the album as tastefully minimalist – the sense is that this album is to be listened to and savoured rather than skanked to.
Compared to the producer’s other solo offerings, the cast of players on this album is relatively small, with most sounds being created or sampled by Sherwood himself. Other musicians include On-U favourites Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald, Ghetto Priest and Jazzwad providing guitar, vocals and programming respectively. The stand-out guest performance, however, is Alan Glen, whose blues harp is laid bare over the dark ambience of ‘Last Queen of England’.
As is the norm in the On-U family, Sherwood’s music continues to shift and change, and the pioneer’s made another cracker. The dub adventure continues…