Warp signings the Sabres of Paradise had an album called Haunted Dancehall (1994); this debut from another Warp act actually sounds like one. Brixton-born Gaika is an MC with a grounding in Caribbean sounds: dancehall, reggae, London grime. But as a producer he unites two disparate aesthetics, leaning towards the goth end of narcotised R&B. Through a series of mixtapes and EPs, Gaika has carved out a niche that triangulates artists such as Mykki Blanco (with whom he has collaborated), the Weeknd and serpentwithfeet.
Basic Volume moves Gaika’s art on apace, with standout tracks such as Born Thieves, or Black Empire (Killmonger Riddim) or Immigrant Sons (Pesos and Gas) all foregrounding Gaika’s political bent and tunefulness like never before. Seven Churches for St Jude finds the all-too-human Gaika praying before he gets on a plane; Clouds, Chemists and the Angel Gabriel is a heartfelt snippet that deserved to be a song.
Over 15 tracks, however, progress stalls. For all Gaika’s articulacy – he also writes for Dazed & Confused – the downbeat haze in which he operates privileges numbness over passion and ire, qualities his arresting music merely hints at, rather than weaponises.
