Batu will release his debut album on Timedance next month.
On Opal, Batu, real name Omar McCutcheon, “seizes the opportunity to incorporate ideas beyond dancefloor impetus into his animated, forward-leaning sound,” we’re told. It’s a sound and style that’s “intrinsically connected” to the Bristol artist’s previous club 12”s, EPs and collaborations on Hessle Audio, Timedance, and XL Records, even as it moves into unfamiliar terrain, “guided by abstract inspiration from coastal landscapes.” Through the course of 11 tracks, rhythmic forms are mutated and manipulated, sonic matter bends across the frequency range, and narrative structures coalesce and dissolve according to McCutcheon’s “own internal logic.”
McCutcheon has been producing music as Batu for half a decade, having spent his childhood in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, where he found a connection with music. Enrolment in Music Production at Bath Spa University helped him shape his sound and served as a gateway to the nearby Bristol scene, which is where he first crossed paths with the likes of Peverelist, Bruce, and Pinch with whom he worked to shape his dubstep, grime, and broken-beat influences into the bass-heavy brand of club music he’s been pushing ever since. You can read more about him here.
Tracklisting
01. Former World
02. Mineral Veins
03. Convergence
04. Even Here
05. Atavism
06. Emulsion of Light
07. Solace
08. Squall
09. Spectral Hearts
10. Eolith
11. Always There
Opal LP is scheduled for April 29 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Atavism” in full below and pre-order here.
