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Wesley Joseph Unleashes a Multitude of Musical Gifts on Impressive Debut Project ‘ULTRAMARINE’ | Review

June 24, 2021 Patrick Corcoran
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Wesley Joseph
ULTRAMARINE
EEVILTWINN
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Multi-talented hyphenate Wesley Joseph hails from Walsall, near Birmingham and springs from the same collective (OG Horse) as Jorja Smith. Having moved to London in 2016, he studied film and also began to make music on his laptop. Those talents all came together as he wrote, directed and scored a short film called Pandomony.

His debut project, ULTRAMARINE, further exemplifies the features that appeared on his first three singles. Skittish beats, a light falsetto singing voice and a rapid-fire rapping style in the vein of André 3000 combine to great effect. There’s the distinctly homemade feel of digitized beats but they are often given warmth and soul by at least some form of organic sound—mainly the keys.

The first 50 seconds of album opener “The Bloom” offer the full gamut of his abilities—the mournful, swooning backing vocals, his brittle, emotive falsetto singing the hook and his dulcet tones rapping the verses. “Ultramarine” has a somber piano line to accompany his feverish lyrics: “Running through the woods, the sweat is dripping off my ear lobes / And the fox is getting closer and the vultures they can see you.”

Those same calling cards pop up on “Thrilla” with the warmth provided by the keys that accompany the verse of his rapping: “Way back on the island, granddad cutting up that sugar cane / Told me love is violent, but nothing good painless anyway.” As the final minute commences, his vocals, the ambient keys, the strings and the gentle throb of the beat swirl to create a winning maelstrom. 

Not everything hits the sweet spot perfectly. “Strangers” is a slight piece that is one paced and doesn’t live that long in the memory, but “Lavender” regains some momentum with its shuffling beat and occasional flourishes of his lovely falsetto. Perhaps the warmest of the tracks here is “Ur_Room” with its two-step beat and all-embracing keys, whilst Jorja Smith pops up on album closer “Patience.” The piano starts proceedings before Smith adds ad-libs and the languorous beat drops. Joseph’s rapping proves a good counterpoint to her smoky vocals and they combine to create a leaden atmosphere of longing.

At a brief 26 minutes, ULTRAMARINE proves to be a sampler of what Joseph is capable of and it shows that the sky is the limit. You don’t have to look that far to find other artists who have started in this intimate, personal way before embracing a more expansive approach to their art and Wesley Joseph seems perfectly poised to make that leap if he is minded to. Ultramarine is a calling card of Joseph’s promising future.

Notable Tracks: “Patience” | “Thrilla” | “Ultramarine”

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