Royce Wood Junior - New Album The Ashen Tang - Out May 11th
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 announces details of his eagerly anticipated debut album. Titled The Ashen Tang, the 12-track LP is set to drop on London-based label 37 Adventures on 11th May 2015, 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 f**ked 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.
Whether it’s the fuzzed out wonky R&B of ‘Honeydripper’, special guest-featuring ‘Jodie’ and instant mood-lifter ‘Clanky Love’, the rich down-tempo beauty of the guitar (and heartstring) plucking ‘Midas Palm’ and stirring piano-led ‘Stand’, the almost-beatbox falsetto robofunk of ‘Twiggin’’ or the delicious wooziness of the ‘80s-tinged ‘Bees’, a distinct thread weaves through Royce Wood Junior’s twisted take on classic soul, pop and funk that holds each moment together. “I wanted this record to be a classic songwriter’s album,” he elaborates, “but presented with as broad a production pallet as possible. It’s a document of the bittersweet reality of being alive in the 2010s, and hopefully it evokes life’s failures and successes with all the embarrassment and humour that an Englishman can muster. All of the ashes and all of the tangs.”
Honing his talents with a stint in Jamie Woon’s band, Royce spent stolen midnight hours in the studio working on his debut solo EP Tonight Matthew (featuring tantalizing first single ‘Nuff’) before working with the likes of Ninja Tune’s Jono McCleery, Rosie Lowe, Kwabs and Denai Moore on their own material, co-writing Kwabs’ new single ‘Perfect Ruin’ and the title track on Denai’s forthcoming debut Elsewhere. His own Rover EP followed in late 2014, as did support from radio’s finest including Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Mary Anne Hobbs and Mistajam, and the likes of Nowness, i-D, Clash, Q, DIY, Pigeons and Planes and The Guardian.
A remarkably confident and multi-faceted debut from one of the UK’s best new artists, The Ashen Tang shows without doubt that the praise is justified, and there’s yet more to come.
The Ashen Tang tracklisting:
- Remembrance (Pt. 1)
- Midnight
- Jodie (feat. Michael MacWoonald)
- Clanky Love
- Honeydripper
- Stand
- Bees
- Nuther Bruther
- Midas Palm
- Twiggin’
- Remembrance (Pt. II)
- Stickin’
- “RWJ is one of the most promising electronic soul producers around” – Q
- “70s/80s soul and funk put through a Dilla/Flying Lotus discombobulator” – GUARDIAN
- “Splendidly off-kilter R&B productions” – CLASH
- “like an edgy Pharrell, with a dash of James Blake's emotion” – THE 405
- “One of the UK’s best new producers” – DIY
- “Out of nowhere, we have yet another purveyor of late-night, twisted pop to become obsessed with” – PIGEONS AND PLANES
ROYCE WOOD JUNIOR - The Ashen Tang
Out May 11th 2015 on 37 Adventures
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