Sudanese-American rapper Bas and English alt-jazz duo The Hics delve into their emotionally rich and artistically resonant new collaborative album, Melanchronica.
About a decade ago, Bas was on tour with J. Cole, winding down from a hectic schedule by playing GTA. Then, on one of the notorious game’s infamous radio stations, the Sudanese-American rapper’s ears pricked. Who is this on the speaker? What is “Cold Air”? Who are The Hics?
Now, a decade later, he’s made an album with them. Bas has been working with electronic-jazz duo, made up of Roxane Barker and Sam Paul Evans, ever since in one way or another — whether featuring them on his sophomore album in 2016 with standout cuts “Matches” and “Ricochet”, or enlisting the pair to support him on the album’s ensuing tour. In the years since, both acts have grown and augmented their respective discographies, with Bas garnering Grammy nominations and The Hics finding their stride with excellent 2021 EP, “HARMINE”.
But arguably for both parties, Melanchronica — shared via J. Cole’s Dreamville label — is their most dazzling opus to date. Traversing generic convention, the 10-pronged LP is cinematic, textured and often beautiful, performed with freedom and fluidity and with an effortless chemistry between the three voices that is razor tight. Bas has grown far beyond being just a bar-for-bar rapper, showing depth in his vocality and artistry that feels without ceiling. The Hics, meanwhile, have solidifying their electronic-jazz fusion, correlating a seamless and layered sonic profile.
A paragon of collaboration that is built across musical styles and sprawls over continents, Melanchronica smells like a sleeper hit. With the hope of shining a light on the record, below Wonderland asks Bas, Roxane and Sam to delve into its making and meaning in our latest track-by-track.
Listen to Melanchronica…
Read the track-by-track…
“Out Of Sight”
BAS: Out of sight, but still very much on the mind. “Text your phone but you ain’t responding. Better times, lately I’m reminded”. “You got my heart and it’s caught in your pendant. Where do I start? I need all the repentance”
Don’t blow a good thing son!
It be like that.
ROXANE: As soon as “Out of Sight” starts I feel like I’m in old school Hollywood. When I first heard the strings I felt a wave of romance and saw expansive lush scenery. The feeling of falling in love. But like everything too perfect I wanted to offer it a lyrical dissonance in comparison to the initial feeling. Writing about questioning someone’s intentions and feeling disregarded I found myself writing from a very honest place. From day one it’s been one of my favourite on the project.
SAM: One of the first pieces of the puzzle. Producers Diamond Soundwavve and Alex Wavve had crafted a minimal but delicious loop around this beautifully romantic and cinematic string sample taken from ‘Fire Treasure Variation’. Immediately the song was undeniable. We added some more live instrumentation and carved out a basic arrangement ready to add vocals too. What was exiting about this moment was that I feel this was the one that made us all go, yeah fuck it let’s make something timeless. Let’s make this feel like an old movie, driving through the Amalfi coast like we’re in an old bond film or something. Then what Roxane did next with the first verse just took that vision to a whole new dimension. We were all immediately transported there. The bar was set. I don’t think any of us had ever written a song like “Out Of Sight” and for us this was the first time that we understood what we were capable of as a writing core and that what we had to do for the songs to come had to be timeless or nothing.
“Norbit”
BAS: People will let you down, turn their backs, betray and abandon you. The facts of life. This song is about persevering and surviving thru your self reliance. Sometimes you have to pick up the pieces and play all the roles.
“My life’s a movie, playing every part in it. Like Eddie in Norbit.“
ROXANE: I had recently watched The Banshees of Inisherin. Which is an amazing film about the deterioration of a friendship. I was in the position Colin Farrell’s character was in, sadly. It really hurts! I wrote from a feeling of deep hurt and defence. The conflicting feeling of wanting to be in someone’s life alongside never wanting to see them again is an interesting feeling. I’ll definitely explore it more in future songs as I feel it’s such a relatable experience.
SAM: We had been in such a comfortable place, we had the pleasure of working at a studio called Harbour Studios on the Malibu coast. Everything was perfect, too perfect maybe. I feel this heavenly setting called for contrast and when looking for the next direction one jam session, we stumbled across this idea called Norbit. A delicate yet sinister number that immediately grabbed our attention. Bueno’s guitar mixed with Diamond’s alluring sample work really created this sense of foreboding. We all looked at each other and knew it needed to turn itself inside out.
Bueno’s switch up to the arpeggio suddenly created this tension that needed to be expressed so in true Diamond fashion he dropped a disgustingly abrasive and fat kick and snare to throw you right in the deep end
Roxane then grabbed the Bass and started riffing with more and more distortion, we refined it and tried to tame the meters. We then liked the idea of toying with the listener to give a sense of push and pull and to invoke the feeling one can have when in the middle of rage, that strange twilight, daydream by aggressively taking you from the grasp of the drop to that dark waltz energy back to the soft chorus melody with no drums and bass that feels like a breeze passing by, before then throwing you straight back into the pit. Then add in the wizardry of both Bas and Soul, shit goes orbital, Their energy and frequency just bring this whole waltz to life and you have “Norbit.” The listener not knowing what the fuck just happened but knowing you wanna go back a experience that whole thing again.
“Four Walls”
BAS: “I hate to hear you disown me“ — Say it ain’t so.
ROXANE: This was the first song I wrote on for Melanchronica. I had been feeling stuck and that’s what the chorus speaks to. I’ve been staring at the same four walls’. Life felt like Groundhog Day and so did most of my interactions with people. I haven’t touched the chorus since. It’s funny listening to it now and knowing that’s me 8 years ago!? Madness.
SAM: Possibly my favourite song on the album, I think the first song ever written for Melanchornica. I feel this song really summarised so much of the frustration that people experienced at the time. It spoke to me on 3 levels. Firstly I could engage with it as a love story, a story of mourning the end of a relationship, the what could have been, the longing for more and the hopelessness that we face when you know there’s nothing left in a dying relationship. Secondly I could just relate to it as a story of the human condition, the numbness we encounter when having to repress our feelings, dreams and aspirations to get by and play the part. It’s an anthem for boredom, the isolation, that birds eye view of your life in a box and accepting it for what it is.
Lastly I just hear this as a fucking banger. That chorus is probably the biggest earworm next to Erewhon on this album. I’ve not stopped singing it since 2017 and it never gets old.
“Everyday Ppl”
BAS: Inspired by my favourite party in the world, Everyday Ppl. More specifically the feeling of meeting someone new, and feeling a connection with them that you want to explore, wherever it may lead.
“Met her at the brunch, and shorty had a fatty I would’ve ate for lunch“ lol yea.
ROXANE: For me this song captures the feeling of seeing someone at a party and getting the instant feeling of falling for them. It’s romantic and complicated and impulsive. I hope people will listen to this song and get the courage to explore their desires.
SAM: Shout out fellow producer Ced for bringing this energy into the mix. Bas pointed out that it could be a fun experiment to try and write something more upbeat and less depressing. Something that I personally find incredibly difficult, finding it much easier to tap into sadness and create from there but hey challenge accepted so Ced shows us this beat and it just had this perspective and lightness that was so refreshing after a long period of writing sad music.
I remember Roxane started to snap over it, it was like the perfect blend of a swing, incredibly simple but thought provoking questions all disguised in these brief, 2 note melodies and cadences that would stick in your head all day.
Then to cap off the most memorable line “I just wanna fuck no more fighting”. The alliteration, the audacity, the “yh that sounds like something I completely agree with too”. A moment of Roxane’s genius as a lyricist and storyteller. So relatable and so true.
I think it’s the first time on this album that you get to hear a different side to Roxane’s writing. It’s more suggestive, playful but yet still delivered with such power and prowess. That last chorus, shit, she goes off!
“San Junipero”
BAS: The things left unsaid, to myself and others. “ Lay it out “
ROXANE: This song is as if change was a spectacular explosion of colour and light.Something is creeping up on me, something shifting that I can only feel. A higher power I’m moving toward.
SAM: I originally wrote this idea as a bunch of melodies, hand claps and mumbles. The chorus didn’t have any lyrics, it was just mumble melodies, the phrase “lay it out” alongside that guitar riff that I knew needed to have its moment.
Bas fired back his verse. The way he locked into the counterpoint of the rhythm was so sick to me. His ability to float then lock became the focal point of the rhythm, replacing the role of a hi hat and providing the perfect energy to carry you through to the chorus.
Mostly when I write, the melody will come first then lyrics second. In my subconscious the line “lay it out” came out in my first improvisations. We tried to sculpt a narrative around what it could have meant. The conclusion we came to was that it was about that moment of soberness you have when in the middle of a self destructive episode when suddenly the reality of everything flies at you at 100mph. You can see what your vices are, what the negative patterns are and the perspective you can take in those moments of self reflection and realisation.
It’s a scary challenge for me to be that exposed vocally on a chorus. It’s something that Roxane has been trying to produce and build my confidence in since she first encouraged me to sing when I was 17. It’s a challenge but I love that in San Junipero you can really get a sense of what my voice sounds like and what my identity as a singer could be.
“Roxane’s Interlude”
BAS: “Light me let me engulf, till I start to peel, revealing the real me“
This line best encapsulates this song for me. The feeling of being with that person that strips away your inhibitions and insecurities. When you can 100 percent be yourself at your most vulnerable, free, and exposed.
It’s like when a dog lets you rub its stomach. Dogs don’t lay on their backs in the wild cause it’s real in the field. I’m just a dog getting his belly rubbed.
ROXANE: This was a fun one to write. The subject is obvious. I felt like I could be very direct. There’s no metaphor or simile – it’s just a very direct message. It’s nice to be optimistic about love for once!
SAM: This is the biggest heart ache I think on this project. Starting with the line “never knew it could be like this” sets the stage for “lemme find out some more”. These subtle, “to be continued” openers that Roxane drops are magic.
I wouldn’t say that lyrically this is a sad song, in my opinion it feels like a tale of falling in love, but in true Melanchronica fashion where this song ends up, sonically for me is something that I poured my heart into.
Diamond and Alex had already crafted this beautifully gentle down tempo lullaby that Roxane could float on, and as much I wanted to just let it be I couldn’t. So I decided to drop a big 80’s drum fill and take it to a darker, more painful dimension, something that I feel represented a more realistic depiction of a love story. Maybe mine just always have that big dark ending lol but I felt it needed it and I felt it brought a strong climax to the story of what Roxane had been telling. I personally love the amount of live instrumentation you get on this one and to top it off you get the genius of Andrew Beckner on Guitar at the end with his solo.
The pattern that you might start to see with this album is the theme of playing with two worlds. I wanted to take it back to a less intense, lighter world so I re-sampled the original beat by Diamond and Alex and then flipped it into what you now hear under Bas’s verse. I wanted something familiar, less intense, more hopeful.
“Comfort Levels”
BAS:“My lifestyles moved up a level. I got my head in the stars. “
A sobering look at the material gains, career successes and failures, the journey of it all. At the end of line what will we cherish most and take with us? Jury is out.
ROXANE: Reminds me of a summers evening by the sea. It had a very warm energy, thanks to what Sam wrote for the acoustic guitar part. I wrote from the vibe the song gave me as opposed to having an intention and I’m really glad about how it turned out. For me it’s like listening to someone’s train of thought.
SAM: This idea actually started as a Hics song called “just stop”. Kaleb Rollins pitched it right down so what you hear at the beginning is actually our chopped voices singing “Just stop, why you wanna be”.
We actually put this idea to the back of our minds then Bas came back with his part. I actually think this is my favourite verse of Bas’ on the whole album. It’s honest, it’s raw, the imagery and the word play is just magical to me. I think the song touches on one of the main themes of the album which is Materialism. The need for more, not knowing what you have until it’s gone, never being content with what you have, stopping to have a look back at the road you’ve been on and reflect on where you started to the comforts of life that you now have. It’s a simple yet touching reminder to appreciate everything that we have and to remember the journey as we take a step into a new one.
“Mine”
BAS:“You’re like my reason for life when my dreams seem so far away “
For the person in your life that’s by your side through the most improbable pursuits. Through the ups and downs, they keep you up. They deserve songs written about them.
ROXANE: A very pretty love song. I was so happy with what Domani added. The use of call and response in his verse was a great choice. I feel good when I listen to it. It’s great summer vibes.
SAM: Back in our 12/8 bag for the muso’s out there. ClicknPress (Kaleb Rollins & Mark Antony Soto came through with the seed for this one. Rox, Diamond and myself were looking for a new song idea to spice things up and along came this WAV called ‘Retro’. It was pretty much the ear candy you hear at the beginning of the song and first verse, we just refined it and added more drums, more guitar and of course some sad but hopeful vocals in the chorus.
Vocally Bas took this one to a different dimension. I think his upper range is very powerful, not many rappers have the guts to experiment with vocal range but this is true testament to his ability. The way his melodies cut through and connect in a mix is magic. You barely have to eq it to get it to sit; it just naturally creates a space for itself.
This set the framework for the melody and cadence that could be expected in the 2nd verse, and shout out to Domani on this one. Who I think delivered such a thoughtful and well crafted response to Bas’s verse, taking aspects of melody and cadence obviously highlighting his ability to repeat the musicianship of Bas’s but also taking it to a level of signature finesse with his ability to create a call a response to himself within his own verse and flair.
“Erewhon”
BAS: We came a long way from 179st Deli on Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. This became abundantly clear to me after my first visit to Erewhon after I relocated to LA. It’s still really for Queens though.
Symbolically it represents all the ways you don’t even realise your life is progressing, when you’re in the thick of it.
It feels like it’s never enough, but about 12 years ago 8 of us were chasing our creative dreams and sharing a 3 bedroom apartment , which we got evicted from, so maybe we should stay in the moment more guys? Life’s sweet if you let it be. This song refuses to do so.
ROXANE: The amount of iterations the chorus went through is so funny. I’ve been looking at videos of when Sam, Diamond (producer) and I wrote it. We actually had gone to Erewhon on a break where Sam and I experienced our first Erewhon smoothie. We then went back to the Airbnb and started pulling random sentences out that would express the feeling of having ‘made it’. Erewhon definitely represents that. With everything these days costing so much I felt ‘that smoothie is something that can never happen again’, we said so many things we didn’t wanna spend money on anymore until we chose ‘you’.
SAM: This one is the anthem for the “fuck it i’ll buy it anyway”, the “financially neglectful” , the”financially neglected”, more credit more overdraft gang. The fact that we’re being convinced to just go harder yet accept far less in a world of capitalism and materialism. What is even the priority any more, when will we stop chasing this shit. When will I stop being in debt? What is the fucking point of all this debt. Why do we let ourselves be ruled by this shit.
Then it’s the anthem for the creatives who’re told to keep pushing but never get properly invested in. Whose craft is criminally undervalued and exploited. Whose life is driven by 3 random jobs to sustain a glimpse of “the dream” in this more and more aggressive pot.
Then it’s also an anthem for the neglect we inflict on ourselves and reluctance we have to properly invest in the good and healthy things and instead fuel negative vices and addictions.
Sonically the song started as a jam session. I like to call the UN of producers a semicircle of my talented friends and producers all patched into the engineering genius of Kaleb Rollins.
I started the idea on guitar then started jamming it over with guitarist Bueno to my right, then to my left you have Gali Mathias on synths who lays down chords to the b section of the verse, in steps Kel P vibes with a simple yet so effective kick and snare pattern to carry us through. Then you have Diamond on additional drums to fatten it out and Rox and Bas in the middle vibing out.
This jam turns into a bounce called “idea 4” .
Diamond had been showing us around LA and had taken us to Erewhon in Calabasas for some real LA shit. I’ve never paid so much for a Juice in my life. It was amazing, we were disgusted that we enjoyed it, we were disgusted with how much it cost. I think that reality really left an impression on us. We return back to the house and start looking for beats, we find this “idea 4”. Immediately we all found ourselves singing the hell outta that line “ I don’t wanna spend no more money on you” the rest we crafted but that initial hook was the seed to it. A moment of synchronicity. We take it to Kaleb, his wife Kat was also staying with us, we steal them as singers and decide to record as many takes as possible as a squad to try and emulate a choir. I think that shit worked and that chorus sounds massive.
“Sometimes”
BAS: A big nut bust
ROXANE: This was born out of a very special session with some incredible songwriters and producers. The bones of it came together in about 6 hours. When I first heard it from start to finish I had to hide behind the recording panels to cry. It was just so powerful and really evoked a feeling that I had been struggling with for a long time. It’s my mums favourite, so it’s got a good vibe.
SAM: Galimatias brings up a loop called “Sometimes” which consists of the opening piano and Roland drum machine.
Myself and Roxane immediately fell in love with it. I grabbed Rox and ran into the booth and started mumbling melodies. If you listen close enough to Roxane’s first chorus it’s pretty much raw melody improvisation with the occasional word sticking out.
We started to sculpt and chip away at a rather loose arrangement, we were all just mesmerised by Roxane’s silk and soft tones in this range and could just listen to it for hours.
Eventually I got bored and decided that we need to steer it in another direction similar to what happened in Roxane’s Interlude. I took Gali’s opening piano loop. Reversed it then went straight to my drums to inject something that I felt could really open it up.
The relationship between the hi-hat pattern and random reverse textures that would suddenly appear in the forefront just started to dance. We wanted it to feel like a time warp going in reverse. Kaleb’s wizardry introduced multi layers of carefully crafted synths, and soundscapes to make that section feel like it was breathing. The intensity just seemed to build and not stop. We’d started to reach the “Prog song length” territory but we didn’t give a shit.
To be clear this idea was just all about melody and frequency, no real lyrics had been added at this point. But we were all sold and just like “this should be the full stop to this album”.
Credit to Bas for creating such a timeless and stapled verse in the middle of all this madness, the perfect stitch to bridge the two sections together. His voice carries you through all this sonic indecision and decoration. It’s a guide to see you through to the last chorus.
I’m most excited by this song. I think it’s the most sophisticated, fun/ experimental on the whole album. It was one of those ones when you just clocked, “holy shit, this is gonna be a wave to perform live’ and what better way to sign off on this project. I feel you get all the emotions of Melanchronica in this record.
Photography – Linus Johnson
Words – Ben Tibbits
