Electro-psychedelic-post-hip-hop-pop collective Cryptochrome has consistently been pushing the envelope of sound since they debuted in 2013. The eclectic elders of the booming Reykjavík rap scene, the group is now back with a new EP ‘Lovelife’—an effort chock full of dreamy vocals mixed with fresh pop beats and intense flow, perfect for cheering up the last few days of winter. We sat down with Cryptochrome to get a feel for the release, track by track.
People Come
This song focuses on the strength in sharing your vulnerabilities, and acts as a portal into a feeling of being understood and seen without the shame that is solidified in solitude. There’s also a hint of sexuality, which we see as the ultimate form of trust and vulnerability, and a playful approach to an otherwise very heavy subject. Vibe with the vibraphones.
Who’s
Who do we surround ourselves with? Who do we serve? Who really has our best interests at heart? And are we those people ourselves? We so often spend our lives talking ourselves down to a degree we would never accept someone else doing, time for a little honest, passionate life-long self-loving. Right?!
Photo by Art Bicnick
Part of Me
This song is about the power we give away, the power we unwittingly exude, the power inherited from societal constructs, gender, and background. It’s about ownership, where service distorts into control, where the need for safety shifts into imprisonment, enmeshment, “privilobliviousness,” and the romanticisation of it all. We flip the script and stick it in a disco ball.
Polly
“Polly” is the first song we wrote at the beginning of our journey into polyamory, about the beginning of our journey into polyamory, and the strong impressions it was making. The personification of personal freedom within a committed relationship. The wealth of growth it has offered, continuously, and the deep introspection that ensues.
Kali
This whole EP was written in a period of huge realisations in our lives, of cord-cutting on a massive level, and we felt as if it were the energy of Kali sweeping through our existence, beheading the old and ushering in the new. Through beautiful coincidence, we connected our producer Secondson with Halldór Úlfarsson, maker of the now-famous halldorophone, whose eerie drones permeate this song perfectly. Haunting, bass-heavy mantra-music.
Photo by Art Bicnick
Cast it Away
Get rid of it. Dance it away. If it doesn’t serve you, get it as far away as necessary, and do so however you please. This is a kind of ritual song for us, everyday type spellcasting, and it’s in the music, too. Secondson travelled to Carn Menyn in the Welsh Preseli Hills to record the singing stones, at the site from which the Stonehenge bluestones were mined, and transported for hundreds of miles, for their sonic properties. It’s the first time they have ever been put on record, and there’s something magical in that megalithic connection with the past. We bring it into the present, and use it to sculpt the future.
Check out Cryptochrome on Facebook and Bandcamp. See previous coverage on the band here.
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