After a fruitful 2014 that saw the release of two acclaimed EPs alongside writing and production credits for some of music's most promising new names, Royce Wood Junior releases his eagerly anticipated debut album.
Titled 'The Ashen Tang', the 12-track LP drops on London-based label 37 Adventures, and moonlit soul stomper 'Midnight' is the first single to be taken from the release. The track sees Royce's honeyed vocals and squelching synths underpinned by a skewed garage beat and shuffling percussion that ends in a satisfying clattering crescendo, in an ode to that strange twilight hour where one day ends and another begins and yesterday's mistakes can be erased, or at the very least slept on. "If you fucked up today, midnight will be along soon. Try again tomorrow." - Royce Wood Junior.
'The Ashen Tang' is a refreshingly modern album that nonetheless sounds like an instant classic, taking in myriad influences and sounds both new and old, from the infectious funk jams of Prince and Stevie Wonder and the simmering neo-soul of D'Angelo to the sparse, maverick beats of J Dilla and Flying Lotus and more, all spilling forth in Royce's infectiously off-kilter, multi-layered production and that magnetic voice.