Album Of The Week: clÜ – Glas (Incurzion Audio)

Feeling blue as we bounce between Cardiff and Bristol with clÜ

“One thing I always hope to reflect in my music is influence…”

“Whether it’s something I hear, see, experience, think or feel, I try to get that through.”

“Music is ultimately a tool for communication and what I seek to do is communicate feeling. But to invoke a mood (or multiple moods) across a whole body of work is what piqued my interest when Zak from Incurzion tasked me with creating a full length album.”

“I was at the end of my time at university, lockdown was easing and I was in between my hometown of Cardiff and adopted home of Bristol, not really knowing what was next. My time in Bristol was hugely formative for me personally and as a producer. I had always been interested in electronic music from a young age and to move to Bristol, to me, was a no brainier.”

“The underground rave culture is beyond inspiring; the street parties, the small intimate underground clubs to the star-studded line ups of the bigger clubs. The sound of UK bass music rings the streets everywhere you go. My music taste and production style is inspired by rhythms beyond the BPM of 174 and have been infatuated by music for as long as I can remember. My love for jazz, classical, RnB, hip-hop, disco and funk have fundamentally shaped my taste and style as a producer.”

“This has been complemented by the collaborations on the project with PAB, Ekstatic and Headroom who share this view. It was amazing to work with these three talented artists and they really brought this project together.” 

“I also feel that the aim for this album was not only to demonstrate my style and influences, or to even invoke feelings but to give each track its own unique vibe whilst taking the listener through a journey as part of something bigger. The title Glas comes from the Welsh word for Blue. I have always seen blue as a melancholic colour and depending on what shade of blue you look at, you can feel something different. My hope was that this would come through on this project. There is also the double edged meaning with the word glass as I wanted the album to be a transparent view into me as person and artist – a snapshot of my life at the time of working on the album.”

Transparency… A priceless commodity in the music game. While so many pretend to live their best lives on social media, clÜ appears to be the real deal.

No hype or fluff; Glas is all about a young artist capturing the moment as he eases out of uni and finds his groove between Cardiff and Bristol in a post-covid world. These are his influences, this has been his life so far, this is what he’s feeling, these are the vibes he carries on his shoulders… And they’re vibes we can all relate to.

There’s something sweet and succint about this approach. A 10 track happy-slap, it says a lot without ever repeating itself. At one minute it’s dripping in musical elegance (One Time), the next its boosting you into outter space (Necessity), the next its poking you mischeivously and insisting you skank (Gangton)

While its predominant tone is of a liquid nature, it’s how he flips between the shades that makes the collection stand out… There’s a North Quarter quality to Rose as P.A.B joins the fray over sweeping pads and gentle pianos. Elsewhere Pictures Of Us is an all-out soul jam you could imagine Makoto getting busy with, while other flips come with much more stark contrast, such as 3.48am where we’re hurled into an icy 140 plunge pool with no warning whatsoever, and the cosmic heads-down acidic opener Equilibrium.

Held together with consistency and a quick paced flow, clÜ leaves you under no illusion as to where he’s at. Or where he’s from for that matter… Giving the title a Welsh name is no coincidence. Shedding light on his home city, one that’s quietly-but-savagely hussling away in the shadow of Bristol, clÜ not only represents himself, his passions and influences and the collaborators… He also celebrates the thriving network of south Wales drum & bass talents that spans the culture’s creative disciplines yet is so often over-looked. For now. If this quality remains this high, it can’t overlooked for much longer. Mawr i fyny clÜ!

clÜ – Glas is out now on Incurzion Audio 

Follow clÜ on Facebook

Follow clÜ on Soundcloud

Follow clÜ on Instagram

Power your creative ideas with pixel-perfect design and cutting-edge technology. Create your beautiful website with Zeen now.