We’ve met Joel Compass before. Not in a literal sense of course, I was just searching for a new way of saying I’d written about him. He’s one of that new generation of soulful RnB singers with a (you can tell I’ve been doing this writing thing for a while when I say this) pop sensibility. Pop sensibility? Sounds like music journalist (I wouldn’t dare describe myself in those terms, by the way) nonsense to me, I always thought. But there again, I suppose if Joel Compass can sound urban yet chart worthy, poppy yet underground (which he does) then he maybe has a pop sensibility. Oh, I don’t know.
What I do know is he’s turned to super-producer Huxley to work his magic on his new track ‘Fucked up’. The Tring (it’s in Hertfordshire) DJ remixer and producer is just about in demand as he is respected by just about anyone who throws down a beat. He’s moved away a little (not completely though listening to this remix) from his garage roots, and has conjured up a soulful (could it be anything else with Compass’ velvet vocals) deep house version of the song.
But that’s not all the Brighton 19 year has given the world recently. A video for ‘Fucked up’, taken from his debut ep ‘Astronaut’ out in July on the Black Butter records imprint, is also now live. It’s a beautiful and descriptive video, showing the consequences of both meanings of the title’s phrase; to be, and to have. It’s one of those videos that you watch and feel like it belongs with the song. Like the two things are meant to be together. A bit like pop and sensibility, perhaps.
https://soundcloud.com/joel-compass
https://twitter.com/JoelCompass
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