Evian Christ
“Salt Carousel”
Waterfall EP (out February, 2014)
The 22 year-old, Liverpool native’s 2012 mixtape, King and Them, was one of the true surprise breakouts of last year. Evian Christ (né Joshua Leary) claimed that he never intended for anyone but friends to hear his Tyga-sampling masterpiece, but once the ever-scrupulous Dummy uncovered it, there was no turning back. Fast forward almost two years, and the low-key producer has played countless festivals, worked on Kanye’s infamous Yezzus Paris sessions, and is now facing newfound expectations and pressure to continue to develop his boundary-pushing style.
“Salt Carousel,” Waterfall‘s first single, shows that he isn’t letting the weight of expectation hold him down — in fact, quite the opposite. It’s palpably more direct, energetic, and ratchet than any of the moody, Kings and Them, and is somewhat akin to the work fellow Yezzus collaborator Hudson Mohawke (especially his work with Lunice). That said, this is far from your average hands-up cut, and it retains Leary’s cinematic touches and incredible sonic depth. While it’s probably the first Evian Christ you could realistically hear in a club, it hasn’t lost any of the mercurial magic that flowed through his incredible debut. In short, it’s another absolute masterclass from the rising beatsmith.
