A woozy, chilled melancholy that slowly builds into a beautifully floating portrait of personal tragedy. The new song by the Brooklyn-based producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist is an ode to a late friend and “a reminder to check on your loved ones”. A timely one. From his forthcoming album, Will This Make Me Good, this will be his first since the critically acclaimed 2017 debut LP Green Twins.
Hakim’s style is unique, a blend of delicate funk and jazz sounds, a low-key Prince, with a dash of Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield, wonderful, hazy horizontal. This particular song, “in loving memory of Qadir Imhotep West 4/4/92-2/2/18” he describes as “repetitive and hypnotising, like a trance – that's intentional. The song is my ode to him. It's my attempt to relate to how he must have been feeling." As well as guitar and gentle percussion, the mix of sound includes glockenspiel, flute, vibraphone, and congas.
Out on ATO Records, more of Hakim’s work can be found here, or on Bandcamp.
Oh we have fallen
As a whole
And we’re sinking
Down a hole
Without thinking
About our loved ones
Who might be shrinking
Into a sunken space
With glass surrounding
Their powers
That are pounding
In their temple in their mind
There seems to be a complexity to being kind
To your space to your temple
To your neighbours
Who’ve seen the changes
We all feel change
Some of us wear masks
To hide the pain
And I just wish I could ask
Qadir, oh what's the deal now?
What did you plant in your mother’s garden?
Qadir, oh I miss you dearly
What did you plant in your mothers garden?
Oh hemos sido esclavos (‘We have been slaves’)
To these systems
That project false beauty
Exorcisms
Burn it out of my body
This dependency don’t help nobody
We’re sitting in dark rooms
With bags on our heads
Waiting for God to touch us
We just wanna be closer
It’s overwhelming
Some of us wear masks
Because some can’t adapt
Oh I just wish I could ask
Qadir, what's the deal now?
What did you plant in your mother’s garden?
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah)
Qadir, oh I miss you dearly
What did you plant in your mother’s garden?
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah)
Oh we have fallen
As a whole
And we’re sinking
Down a hole
Without thinking
About our loved ones
Who might be shrinking
Into the sunken space
With glass surrounding
Their powers
That are pounding
In their temple in their mind
There seems to be a complexity to being kind
To your space to your temple to your neighbours
Who’ve seen the changes
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah)
We all feel change
Some of us wear masks
Because we can’t adapt
I just wish I could ask
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