Christos DC & The Ligerians – Shadow Of Perception

Christos DC has been bringing his A-Game of late – and this is only set to improve as news breaks of his latest collaboration: a full album with the legendary Ligerians. Now, we get to hear the first single off this project – and it’s a winner.

Shadow Of Perception, released via Soul Nurse Records and Honest Music Production, is the first track to be released from the artists’ forthcoming project together – and it shows just what potential the album will have.

The first thing that stands out with Shadow Of Perception is the rhythmic trick of anacrusis (anticipating the beat) which is used at points throughout with both the instrumentation and the chord progression – a clever nod to the title of the track, as this device shifts the listener’s perception of the track.

Then, much of the arrangement is grounded in Roots. Keys run a choppy bubble rhythm across the track, whose dynamics ebb and flow in and out. The bass is somewhat sparsely arranged, often dropping the fourth and first beats of the bar. Drums run a one drop, with a rudimentary line from the snare and some methodical arrangement on the hi-hats. Meanwhile, a guitar skanks in the background and at points the keys break out of their bubble rhythm trap and riff higher up their register.

A secondary guitar runs a fascinating solo line. It’s rasping, Rock-like with plenty of bending and glissandos, and serves an almost background vocal duty. Tinkering in the background are various synths – but they’re engineered just to be out of earshot. Vocal samples, low down a male voice’s register, bring something more unsettling to proceedings. Then, Dub’s influence is also all over Shadow Of Perception.

There are great breaks where the instrumentation is often stripped back to just the rhythm section, reverb has been laced across the keys and DC’s vocal, and the bassline is omnipresent in terms of the dB. This level of attention to detail is, of course, what discerning listeners have come to expect from the Ligerians. Then, DC’s vocal finishes off the track perfectly.

Here, he focuses on a vocal that (while engineered with some decay and distortion across it) is gentler, more pensive, and thoughtful than seen before. Singing in a husky whisper at points, he weaves a pleasing melody across the track, making good use of longer and shorter notes to make up for the reserved dynamics. Lyrically, DC has weaved a compelling narrative around each of our places in the world under Babylon, how we perceive ourselves and others in this context, and what a spiritually elevated path would look like. “Never-ending questions” you may still have after listening to this track – as, much like Akae Beka, the lyrical content needs multiple listens to fully appreciate its depth.

Overall, Shadow Of Perception is an exceptional piece of work from Christos DC and the Ligerians. Musically deft, it is smart and well-executed. DC himself takes the instrumental backdrop and serves a perfect accompaniment for it – and the whole thing bodes very well for the forthcoming album.

Christos DC & The Ligerians Shadow Of Perception Review by Mr Topple