‘6A63 / ICY WHITE’/ Ealing [Premiere]
Ealing returns with a dreamscape offering via Deep Scan - the perfect antidote for these COVID times.
Nostalgic, sombre and overflowing with emotion, you can find this release at the meeting point between Sydney club, sad boy rap and a global ambient revolution. Verve brings you a first glimpse. Out on Deep Scan’s Bandcamp 1 October.
The opening track ‘6A63’ flitters in and out of grasp like a balloon caught in crosswinds. A melody like trickling water lingers in the background, overpowered by soaring strings. At the halfway mark the track momentarily descends into harsh noise before the melody comes back seemingly crisper and cleaner than before. For a drumless ambient track, there’s an impressive sense of movement – almost a yearning for that which we cannot hold onto.
For Conor Hughes, the Sydneysider behind Ealing, the track is deeply personal. “6A63 is a numerical sequence from a really dark and hopeless period, quite recently, in my life”, Conor says. “I don’t know why I thought it’d be a good idea to release a song with that title, because the memory still hurts, but perhaps reframing the motif and having positive links to it will help.”
With a dreamy melody over trap beats, ‘ICY WHITE’, a collaboration with Meanjin (Brisbane) artist Lloyd Stein, feels nostalgic. A piano melody which tugs at the heart strings – “an end credits moment”, Conor says – closes the release. It’s a song fitting for this COVID time . The recent rise of sad boy hip hop and cloud rap has unmistakably influenced the production. Ealing is a connoisseur of the Memphis and Houston rap scenes and a self-described bedroom producer, but this latter label is an undersell when you consider that the production is remarkably refined.
The EP represents a new horizon for both Ealing and Deep Scan but this should not come as a surprise. Conor explains that their unreleased folder is “all over the place – footwork, noise, club, dusty hiphop beats, trap – which is both frustrating because I have no idea how to release them all, and exciting because it’s just an extension of the Ealing Sonic Universe.”
Having performed at gigs alongside Warrang (Sydney) artists such as Grasps – nomadic events which traverse the dance music spectrum, mocking genre borders – Conor is a product of their environment. They cite Grasps’ Hong Kong Radio show as one of numerous influences, alongside Eric Dingus and Brisbane’s SHOKU crew.
This Deep Scan release is a reflection of Warrang (Sydney) at its best – a city where artists and party people shun licenced venues for warehouses, parks, bunkers and abandoned stadiums, where reputation can count for little and where a DIY ethos endures in the face of nanny state politics. The result is a Sydney sound where musically anything goes.
Stay up to date with Ealing’s music on Facebook or Bandcamp.
Words by Robbie Mason (@robbiemasonlhs)
Cover art by Damian Malajev (@himalayev)
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