'Chuerch Break (ft. Hamish McGrath & Jess Hitchcock' / Darcy Khalid
Darcy Khalid releases “Chuerch Break”, the third single to form his debut EP Drivers Wave At One Another On The Nullarbor
Over the last month Darcy Khalid has released two ambient singles “150,000 Drug Tests, All Across Victoria (ft. Hamish McGrath” and “Hakone Schoolyard” in anticipation of his debut EP. Today he releases “Chuerch Break (ft. Hamish McGrath & Jess Hitchcock)”, a track largely composed of hard-hitting drum and bass that adds an up-beat spice to the rest of the soundscape driven exploration
Much like the previous two singles, “Chuerch Break” begins with an elongated period of conglomerated field recordings including rain and birds amongst distorted sonic artefacts that nestle themselves in-between phasing pads. Percussion from Hamish McGrath and Jess Hitchcock’s ethereal vocals ensue, transforming the piece into a miasma of brooding tension and ritualistic intrigue. At around the two minute mark, the soundscape bubbles into an effervescent groove met with broken beat drum programming and a siren sample at the forefront. Darcy Khalid comments on the EP:
“This record is a mix of ambient, breakbeats and techno that combines my affinity with scoring and soundscapes with dance music”
This affinity is certainly felt as we become aware of the narrative form the music takes, despite being undefinable by a classical linear structure. Instead it moves in waves and cycles through the mechanism of filtered breaks. There is a moment of pause before the climax as Jess’ captivating vocals take centre stage, raw and emotive while manoeuvring a rhythm alike to a choir warm up. After the brief pause the climax is exerted in full force bursting with glitch artefacts and drum and bass. Darcy Khalid was keeping his productions tucked away for a time, before he felt they gave an accurate representation of his sense of self. He continues:
“I only recently came to believe that there was no magical trick, technical skill or piece of knowledge that I was missing that might have revolutionised my musicianship. Teaching oneself music production can be a daunting task.
It's difficult for me to comprehend how much I don't know about the science and art of music production – doubtless, lots – but I now feel I have skills and knowledge to express myself somewhat fluidly and idiosyncratically…
The music I'm making now simply feels like it reflects who I am – my thoughts, feelings, etc. I could dive into a rabbit hole about how that may be…”
In isolation Darcy Khalid has been writing music - mostly of the ambient variety that focusses on field recordings as the foundation - DJ’ing and has started co-hosting Beat Magazine’s mix series, BeatsByBeat. We’re excited to see what he comes up with and look forward to getting a glimpse of the live set once normality resurfaces.
Stay up to date with Darcy Khalid on Facebook and Soundcloud
Article by Margarita Bassova
Thank you for reading this article. Before you leave the page, we’d like you to take a moment to read this statement. We are asking our readers to take action and stand with the BIPOC community who fight and endure the oppression and injustice of racial inequality.
Here in ‘Australia’, Indigenous people are the most incarcerated population on Earth. Countless lives have been murdered by white police, white government policies and this country’s white history, institutionalised colonialism and ongoing racial oppression. Racial injustice continues today under the phoney, self-congratulatory politics of ‘Reconciliation’ and the notion that colonialism is something that must be denied and forgotten, an uncomfortable artefact of the past.
Feeling guilty is not enough. We must take action, pay the rent, educate ourselves and acknowledge that empathy and sorrow for past actions is insufficient if this does nothing to prevent our current reality from extending into the future.
Please consider making donations to the following organisations (the list is so small and the work to be done is so large, do your research to find more grassroots, Indigenous-lead community organisations):
Indigenous Social Justice Association - fighting to stop Indigenous deaths in custody
Firesticks Alliance - who campaign for Indigenous land management, cultural burning and looking after Country