New Music

East London collective This Is The Deep share ‘The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1)’ LP.

The album is a mind-altering and immersive journey jam-packed with endless strut and groove.

Words by Karl Johnson

Venturing into the complex sonic existence of This Is The Deep feels like falling down the rabbit hole, your sense of self is amplified as the sheer strength of musicianship and ambition of ideas tugs at the carpet beneath your feet. The London collective have recently released a mind-altering full-length journey entitled The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1), it’s eight tracks brimming with an endless strut and groove.

It’s at the start of Glass where I find myself completely transfixed by This Is The Deep, the track opens with a spoken word piece that offers a 21st century alternate ending to Humpty Dumpty, this eerie introduction is laid out against a backdrop of carnival-esque synths. It’s the jigsaw of strange self-made vocal samples and glitchy broadcast messages that provides the glue to the body of work. Eyes On You is a clean-cut hit, complete with gurgling synths and a kick drum that acts like a battering ram, the ghostly vocal melodies wrap around you as the chorus draws you into their technicolour web.

Mind Over Matter keeps the tension and groove high, the track builds in sheer instrumental chaos – with a heavy brass presence, manipulated electronics and scintillating guitars – and ends with a chorus hook that you could hang your coat on for days. Changing Heart oozes uncertainty, a fiddle shakes uncontrollably in the corner of the room and a trombone creates an uncomfortable sense of grandeur that seems to mock the sentiment of the ghostly lyrical delivery. It reminds me of Timber Timbre in it’s lyrical intimacy and cavernous atmosphere.

From woozy psychedelic textures brought about by a collision of organ sounds, piano and brass instrumentation, to a groove-based night-time electronica, This Is The Deep‘s debut full-length stops at nothing to achieve an otherworldly sonic experience. Written, recorded and produced by the band at The Sauna, their HQ in Hackney Wick, The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1) is out now on B3SCI Records.