There are no limits to the vast reservoir of assimilated influence at work in the music of Berlin-based hip-hop duo Re.decay. Assembled through the dexterous guidance of Owen Ross and Emanuel Bender, the group has a considerable collective experience grafting various melodic elements onto one another, developing a sound as multi-faceted as it is undeniably affecting. Citing artists as diverse as J Dilla, Prefuse 73 and Nina Simone as direct and indirect inspirations, they fashion a variegated vision of hip-hop that casually ignores traditions and adopts a more progressive attitude toward the blustery configurations inherent to the genre.
The group is currently readying the release of their new EP, Down Long Enough, which is due out June 19 via SPRINGSTOFF. The 7-song collection, which features two different edits the title track, gives Ross and Bender the room to explore a series of funk-infused soundscapes that deftly blends their hip-hop predilections with an open-ended fascination for the rhythmic lay lines connecting various genres. Given their combined histories – Ross has performed as both a solo act and with Boston rap collective Re-Up while Bender has worked as a producer and created music for film and television – the expansive sounds littered through the EP shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
On recent single, “Sun in the Morning”, the pair team up with ADH, Mawcom X, and Sedric Perry to construct a song that recalls the warped boogie of Dam-Funk and the intricate instrumental arrangements of Madlib. Soaked in funk harmonics and stark rhymes, the track is a perfect example of how the band is able to mix and blur the sounds of different aesthetics into a blissfully coherent wonder of impeccable composition.
“From the beginning, this song has been an expression of overcoming adversity,” the band explains. “Mawcom X was almost unable to get us his verse because of power outages in Ghana, but he made it happen. This is symbolic of the spirit of this song. The message is clear and true.”
The band has just shared the video for “Sun in the Morning”, which was directed by Alex Forge and features ADH, Mawcom X, and Sedric Perry performing their parts while remaining safely distant from each other. They’re placed into various rooms and images, providing a surreal perspective into the overlapping realities of our present social circumstances.
“[The video for] ’Sun in the Morning’ was filmed and conceived by Alex Forge, a wildly talented French filmmaker,” the band tells Beats Per Minute. “Sedric shot his part in Owen’s studio in Berlin while ADH and Mawcom X filmed their parts in NYC and Accra respectively. Then Alex edited it in Spain and uploaded it over a full day on Wi-Fi that was struggling with the number of quarantined people on it. Like all of our endeavours, it involved an international group of creative people overcoming obstacles to make something great.”
