WHEN SHALL WE RISE by RIDER SHAFIQUE / ISHAN SOUND / KAHN

Rider Shafique, Ishan Sound, and Kahn need no introductions. As individual artists and fellow members of Bristol's Young Echo collective, they are responsible for some of the most crucial music to come out of Bristol in the last decade. Here this powerful message music in these extremely dread times.

In a catalog overflowing with lyrical majesty, “When Shall We rise” is one of Rider Shafique’s most direct and moving missives yet - a critical dissection of the racist foundations of dominant culture - whether UK, EU, or US - and the struggle of the racially oppressed within it. The plea to abandon assimilation into Babylon system, in lesser hands could easily be cliched or flat-footed, but with Rider’s pen and voice it is a revelatory spiritual call-to-arms - there are no saviors coming - we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

The riddim is classic Kahn & Ishan- uncompromising rockstone mid-tempo steppers that is at once orthodox and utterly, inimitably their own- plucked strings, haunted pipes, pounding kick and heaving bassline in propulsive amalgamation. Straight off the desk, “When Shall We Dub” strips the vocal out entirely, focusing on breaking down the incredibly militant riddim, crafting a dark, roiling ocean of reverb, swells of delay breaking the surface in blackest night.