Featuring a name you might expect from a legally insane Russian punk band who finish every show with at least one fractured limb, Grigori is actually an East London producer/singer, making some extremely blissed out electronic soul in ‘bedrooms, hotels and living rooms’.
Sinas has been over a year in the making, and it’s a carefully thought out and measured piece, with each intricate guitar line and drum loop subtly connected to each other over a period of weeks at a time. It is extremely easy to lay back and be swallowed up by the gentle, rolling rhythms and practically horizontal guitar motifs, and that’s before Grigori‘s rich, soulful vocals wash over your senses like a lapping tide.
Lead single ‘Sinas’ was featured on 7Bit’s Monthly Soundcloud for July, and has earned comparisons to similarly introspective London bedroom producers such as SOHN, Jamie Woon and James Blake. Its glitchy, irregular beats lay the groundwork before it cascades to life with an irresistible swan diving bass drop, and then Grigori‘s earnest vocals sell it completely. It melts away gradually, but lingers on long after its runtime. The accompanying video is simple, elegant and NSFW, depicting hipster foreplay in a tasteful and artistic manner, as I imagine all hipsters’ sexual encounters play out in their head.
Elsewhere, there’s a little bit of everything across the other three tracks. The heavy synth line of ‘Prepared For What’s Next’ is the closest that comes to a catchy hook, as it thunders darkly over a slower, melancholic beat, while ‘What You Want, You Always Steal’ is a much lighter, fast-paced affair, full of restless cymbal taps and a crescendo which dares you not to move some part of your anatomy in time to its’ bright and bouncy instrumental rhythm. Finally, ‘Turn Tide’ returns to a lethargic state that pervades throughout the EP, as a sticky bassline struggles to keep up with swooning synths, almost as if dazed by the sweltering summer heat that the track conjures up.
Grigori has spent a year’s worth of time and effort on just over 15 minutes worth of material here, demonstrating an astounding labour of love on his part, and it’s a sweet relief to discover that it is indeed time well spent. Not one that you’ll want to be waiting another year for to hear more from.
7bitarcade - Archive 