008 - Sangam x Kid Smpl - Brave Warrior

 

Dystopia is a word that is often used to describe albums that fall into the dreampunk genre.  Too often it’s used as a generic term to describe music that evokes a feeling of hopelessness and desperation.  There are times however where such a description is warranted, where the sense of a dystopia goes beyond a simple notion that life is difficult.  On Brave Warrior, Sangam and Kid Smpl take the notion of dystopia and embrace it, mold it, and hone it into a sound that is truly worthy of such a description.  

Brave Warrior marks the second album in a trilogy, the first being Shadow Knight released on Dream Catalogue.  It falls in a line of many collaborations that the duo have explored over the past few years.  In doing these collaborations both Sangam and Kid Smpl have created a sound that incorporates their own unique styles while evolving into something all its own.  

When asking about the collaboration process and how the songs take shape, Kid Smpl described it as “Pretty straight forward.  Basically for me Sangam sends over a few loops,always 3 at this point since it seems to be just about the right amount,all stemmed out.  Then I take those bits and structure them out into more sprawling tracks.  [That way it] leads to a sound that feels very 50/50 of our own individual sounds.”

Describing the music as half Sangam half Kid Smpl does not do the music on this record justice.  Trying to describe the compositions that these two have put together here is nearly impossible in just a few paragraphs, but I have to try.  

On first listen,or even the fifth, the album may sound like a disjointed mess of genres forced together to create needlessly long songs. The songs,all over ten minutes in length,showcase numerous genres ranging from pure ambient to late 90’s jungle.  The songs will shift gears in a matter of seconds and on the first few listens these transitions will be vexing.

It was only on my 8th listen that things finally started to click with me.  I began to anticipate the transitions and started noticing the subtle threads that tied the compositions together.  It was around this time that I came to a realization.  These arrangements shouldn’t be seen as individual songs, but rather as acts of a play or scenes of a movie.  

Each twist and turn takes the listener to a different scene.  Some are beautiful and swelling with hope.  Others drive the listener through a landscape of erratic beats coupled with tension and adrenaline.  Wherever the music takes us, the feelings that emerge differ greatly from passage to passage, like changing scenes in a feature film.  

The cinematic quality permeates the album.  The music draws the listener into a world where cybernetically enhanced soldiers are tasked with fighting daily wars.  An average person’s life worth is minuscule.  A neon drenched land, where it started raining years before and has not stopped for as long as anyone can remember.

Every bit about the music - the song structure, the chord progression, the distortion on the voices, the lack of organic instrumentation - all point to a dystopian vibe.  Whether it's ten minutes into the title track where there is nothing but soft synths and rain falling, or its seven minutes into Ruined Prophet where a distorted female voice tells us “No matter the pains we suffer.” It all paints a picture where hope is fleeting and life is next to meaningless.

Well, almost..  There are succinct points in all of the music where hope is not lost and there are glimpses of something better.  One of the finest examples of this is 5 minutes into Basin Cradle.  The music pauses as rain begins to pour.  In contrast to the other rainy passages, we hear the synths play like rays of light and momentarily cut through the misery.  

Brave Warrior’s story is told in such a way that the listener is free to entertain whatever story enters their mind.  I spoke with both Sangam and Kid Smpl about this.  Both confirmed the story is left intentionally vague, wanting the listener to be free to form their own narrative.  

This album is a testament to what can be achieved when two accomplished artists combine their sound to create something truly great.  Both Sangam and Kid Smpl excel in their own work, but I truly believe that their finest work is when they collaborate.  Brave Warrior stands as a testament to the sound that they have honed over years of refinement.  A sound that can stand among the elite in not only the dreampunk genre, but I contend that it stands as one of the finest releases in the past five years in any genre.  

That is, until I heard Remembrance Phase.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to Sangam and Kid Smpl for taking the time to talk to me about their release and answer my numerous questions about their collaboration and musical careers.  As always, thank you to Blissmonkey for editing and promotion.