The beginning of September brought us one great album. His author is the Frenchman called Julien Salvi, known by the artistic pseudonym Redeyes. He came up with his first LP Poetry in Motion ten years ago and it was fearlessly released by no one smaller than BCee. We have been waiting for the second album for five years and in 2013 the LP Part of Me was released. This was taken under the wings of the domestic publishing house Vandal Records, whose guiding principle is not only wide musical range, but also a great sense for finding new talents (for example they granted support to another talent from Toulouse – now notoriously known Monty). This work was entirely original and the influence of funk, jazz and soul was obvious in Julien´s work even then. The third LP was released in 2018 and it was called Broken Souls. Not surprisingly it was taken care of by the boss and owner of The North Quarter label, Master Lenzman. That was a good move, as it was with the latest album Selfportraits.
We can find 10 tracks on the album. You could argue that that´s not enough for LP. But if you dig deeper, you will find out that you are dealing with a very interesting concept. Each D&B track of the album is accompanied by a hip-hop passage with the voice of one of the famous vocalists. Redeyes once again invited Abnormal Sleepz, underground producer from Manchester, or doyen DRS, whose voice we can hear for three times. Although the whole album is mostly full of soulful D&B, we can also find a slightly darker stuff. That’s when Redeyes met with the already mentioned Monty. Their cooperation can be assessed as excellent. How else, right?
The majority of LP consists of melodic tracks full of pleasant tones that can really enchant your years. The best example is certainly All The Reasons, which is accompanied by the voice of the British neo-soul project Lovescene.
It is remarkable, that before the album was officially released on the obligatory music platforms, Redeyes offered the whole thing in a movie form that he posted on YouTube. Not only to please us with his music, but also with black and white shots he took and edited in his iPhone. Below this video we can also find a short commentary from the author himself, which illustrates the origin of all this early autumn beauty: „The album was made during the lockdown and it all came together quickly. I was just spending time at home with my kids, splitting time between making music and home-schooling. It was just a time where I felt sheltered and comfortable with the music just flowing naturally.”
Selfportraits is pleasant, fresh and slightly melancholic. And especially ripe. Again, Redeyes proves that really good things are majorly a matter of craft, but without a clear vision you cannot breathe life into them. With his music, he elevates, inspires and gently tells a story that can touch anyone who is attuned to receiving colorful soft waves. Thank you, Monsieur Salvi!
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