Anna Mounteney
blackwave. tease fans this week in anticipation of their new album ‘no sleep in LA’ (that will be released on the 9th of September), after sharing their new single ‘cracked screen’ featuring Dreamville rapper Lute.
Known more anthropocentrically as Jay Atohoun and Willem Ardui are a Belgium-based hip hop duo who formed in 2016 and have been releasing music since 2017.
Having met online originally, the pair's interest in the sociological effects of social media reflected in their new single feels appropriate -
Williem expands on this further as he explains the inspiration:
“The initial idea came about when one day I realised how much I was ‘living’ through my phone by dropping it and by the screen cracking. Suddenly, I started to notice the screen itself, instead of being completely immersed inside this world of the internet and social media. It sparked the first idea of the chorus: ‘Live my life behind a cracked screen, nothing’s what it seems. From there it evolved into a track about all these different aspects of idolisation both from the perspective of idolising as well as being idolised. It’s about the fronts we tend to put up on the internet, and the moment those fronts start to shatter in front of you.”
As the music video depicts orange-washed clips of the duo, cinematically over-exposed and unfocused, the subject of perception, persona and ultimately a muddled identity run cohesively through the pair's production process, from lyrics to melody, to video. The genre-bending of vocals and melodies reflect the dichotomy between digital and offline characters – and often the struggle to translate from one to another cohesively.
The pair’s diverse storytelling ventures and their experimental mingling of genres have awarded blackwave. with reputation and rising success - from the likes of Clara Amfo’s support on Radio 1’s Future Sounds show to the backing of jazz musicians at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, the duo have been pinned as talented newcomers in both jazz, hip-hop and pop circles.