The new EP Pluto from Silas Futura feels like a tip of the hat to Hip-Hop, with its roots coming from Jazz and all the breaks that bought together that style.
On the opening track Care, the time signature plays games with you but that is fine because you won't really notice. It's smooth and sets up the rest of the EP and what to expect sonically. But what you actually get is really a tour through hip-hop that is infused with funk.
There is plenty of offer here that appeals to me. A couple of things being the way the recording sounds, the instrumentation and the feel that comes from each cut. By about the 3rd track, the EP really knows what it wants to sound like yet keeps offering surprises like on Best Side and then going into Breathe. It is an EP that would sound absolutely incredible live.
Overall, the quality of musicianship here paired with the wonderful cadence, flow and delivery of the rhymes here make this an EP that you can either stick on in the background and everyone would groove to, or even better, sit back and listen to with full awareness.
Silas McClintock, A.K.A. Silas Futura grew up in the sleepy town of Warkworth, North of Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. Homeschooled alongside his siblings by his Mother, Silas was given an unconventional upbringing, where he was exposed to music by both his parents at an early age. His first experiences with performance were formed here, busking outside the local supermarkets with friends.
In 2016, he began taking music seriously under the name, Bobandii. The ‘Bobandii’ project was heavily influenced by Hip-Hop & Rap, and Silas continued to make projects under that name until late 2019. Over time, Silas found himself moving towards Jazz, Funk, Soul and RnB influences.
With a love for Sci-Fi, he began experimenting with a fictional character - a Plutonian based in a future where humans have populated the solar system. The same systematic problems that we experience in today's culture are prevalent in Silas' fictional world, and inequality has become an even more overwhelming force. For Silas, this created a safe space to challenge present day issues within the world and himself. Over time, he gained enough confidence to integrate his own truth and personal story into this new sound. For Silas, a move in this direction was a move toward transparency and authenticity for himself as an artist, and where Silas Futura fully emerged.