Elucid’s music is grounded in statement and elevated by creativeness. The New York rapper and producer’s consciousness of the precarious world we dwell in and the physique he inhabits prices his songs with the urgency of the instances. If his final solo undertaking, 2022’s I Instructed Bessie, was a brighter, extra hopeful counterpoint to the darkish soundscapes and stark imagery of a few of his previous work, REVELATOR is its clear-eyed, clenched-fisted, however no much less hopeful successor. “I squeeze my youngsters’s hand and stroll exhausting in opposition to the wind” he rhymes on “Dangerous Pollen,” giving us a psychological image of a person who persists regardless of the circumstances as a result of he has folks to dwell by and their future to battle for.
The sort of indie hip-hop Elucid makes is understood for (and typically maligned for) its wordiness, however Elucid’s songwriting right here is distinguished by his economic system of phrases—not their overabundance. When he says, “My favourite month September/I make attractive infants however I’m completed makin’ N-words” on “Ikebana” you may hear the phrases and really feel a Black father breaking a curse. As an alternative of blitzing with vocabulary, Elucid strives to say one thing emotionally resonant within the fewest phrases potential. The concise, frenetic songwriting on tracks like “World Is Canine” and the refrains-as-mantras all through the album make REVELATOR as accessible as it’s heady.
The lyrics are complemented by a soundscape of noise, ambient droning, glitches, and distortion courtesy of the artist himself together with producers Jon Nellen, August Fanon, Baby Actor, The Lasso, DJ Haram, Samiyam, and Saint Abdullah. All of these seemingly disparate parts are held collectively by dwell instrumentation—specifically drums performed by key collaborator Nellen and dynamic dwell bass courtesy of Irreversible Entanglements virtuoso Luke Stewart. On “Slum of a Disregard” Stewart’s taught bassline propels the monitor and maintains its groove solely as gasps give strategy to Elucid’s chopped-up voice uttering the phrases “My landlord … is a … Zionist.”
Elucid’s baritone is the sign amid the noise. On the album, his voice alternates between musical instrument, instrument, and weapon. Generally he appears like he’s studying from a scroll or stone pill (“CCTV”), different instances his tone is as intimate as late-night whispers between lovers in mattress collectively (“SKP”).
