Rhythm & Sound / See Mi Yah

Over Rhythm & Sound past year they’ve come to occupy a central place in my listening habits and, by extension, my psyche. The dark and grainy persistence of the music, their unique hybrid of reggae/dub and techno, married to the voices of their Jamaican guest vocalists feels somehow inescapable. Those voices sing of suffering, sadness, but also with determination and understanding. I could understand those who would shrink from such heaviness and make for the light as quickly as possible, but it seems a perfect accompaniment to the seemingly ever-lengthening nights of these winter months. The music is heavy, saturated, rich as loam, but not at all depressing. With the acquisition of See Mi Yah, I’ve finally managed to hoover up all of Rhythm & Sound’s CD releases. See Mi Yah is Rhythm & Sound’s most recent recording and features 14 tracks, all based upon a single rhythm. I recently met somebody who talked disappointedly about this latter aspect and it echoed my own reaction. However, upon listening to the music I find it to be a remarkable work: yes, the rhythm is the same throughout its almost hour-long duration, but it’s subjected to such different treatments, is complemented with such a variety of singers that the project becomes kaleidoscopic, all-inclusive, even – strangely – pantheistic.

MP3: Rhythm & Sound / Let Jah Love Come (with Sugar Minott)