If you haven’t heard his name yet, don’t fret — the young New York-based artist umru is only getting started. With sparing releases and collaborations in the past few years, not to mention a heavy digital presence and a contributing creator of a Minecraft-based festival titled “Coalchella,” the past year for the producer has been a promising one. Having been a contributing producer on Charli XCX’s forward-thinking 2017 mixtape Pop 2, umru’s growth as an artist with an unprecedented sound is evident.
A.G. Cook, The mastermind behind the London-based record label PC Music whose signees are quite simply the future of music, has recently inducted the prodigy into the collective. With that, umru has released Search Result, his first formal EP that’s far from underwhelming.
The 6 track EP consists primarily of new material and heavy collaborations. “Recurse,” the introductory track to Search Result, perfectly captures umru’s artistic nature and productional skills. With heavenly vocals and instrumentals that seem to initiate both his musical growth and the complex nature of the EP, the peak point of the track seamlessly transitions into “Popular.” With it’s prior summer release featuring production and vocal contributions from osno1/Laura Les, the hard-hitting metallic instrumentals and heavy basslines share similar characteristics from those apart of the PC Music label — a sound that’s incomparable to any other.
While “Sticky” featuring Ravenna Golden is the other previously released umru track that made its way to Search Result, its timeless production and vocals are still extremely representative of umru’s unique work. “Chemistry” featuring Lewis Grant has a Bon Iver vibe — Laboriously processed vocals building up to heavily stimulating instrumental melody. Lyrically, the heartfelt anthem, or lack thereof, lures in all the emotional strains you can think of with a title track like this.
“Heat Death” features the likes of Banoffee, another forward-thinking artist whose small yet undeniably gifted music repertoire shares her charm on the track. Preluding to the closing track, “Heat Death” perfectly sums up the experience of Search Result’s prior tracks — After experiencing some sort of ego death, in hopes of succeeding from a search of answers and clarity, “Linkrot” ends the sought out journey that the opening track introduced us to. What’s felt like as a time of reflection and introspection, the synthesized vocals and operatic backdrop provides the listener mental and emotional lucidity. After all, umru was hoping for you to “find a little of what [you’ve] been searching for” with Search Result.
As a whole, umru’s first EP is beyond extraordinary. Search Result takes you on a journey from start to finish, with dimensional and complex tracks that represent the producers ability to both collaborate with others and curate bodies of work that are sonically unique from one another while staying thematic to the EP’s intentions. It’s thrilling to see a fresh face signed to PC Music, and, without a doubt, umru’s growth and involvement within the music industry will only escalate from Search Result.
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