Ray Isaacs Chemical Warfare Review

Ray Isaacs – Chemical Warfare – Review

Ray Isaacs: Chemical Warfare Single Review – Steve Topple for Pauzeradio.com.

It can’t be easy treading in the footsteps of a relative who was a giant among Roots artists. But Ray Isaacs, the nephew of Gregory, has thoroughly risen to the challenge – as his latest track shows.

Ray Isaacs Chemical Warfare, released via Anotha One Productions, is a slickly-executed, old skool Reggae cut but with elements of Funky Soul interspersed extremely well. As is clearly becoming the case, Anotha One is a production force to be reckoned with – as the composition, arrangement and engineering are all first-rate.

The track opens with a glorious keys solo, working around semiquaver and demisemiquaver chords across dotted and triplet rhythms. This line is also imitated by horns, with an electric organ running a counter melody. It’s all a bit Funky Soul – but the Roots vibes soon take command of proceedings.

All the rudimentary elements are there: keys on a bubble rhythm, the drums on a one drop with the bass hitting the upbeats and guitars quietly skanking in the background. It’s these which drive the Roots vibe. But as is always the case with Anotha One, it might seem simple when first hearing but its really a lot deeper than it seems.

A bass provides a trip back to a time before Rocksteady arrangements became dominant. Because while it is syncopated across generally dotted semiquaver-quaver-led rhythm, it does two, gloriously old skool tricks: employing a one drop (against the more modern approach of dropping one of the other four beats), and working across the root chords’ triads on the chorus, versus the more chromatic arrangements Rocksteady brought in. This serves to give Chemical Warfare a very classic feel. The use of a relatively slow BPM (around 60) serves to enhance this. But the track can’t help repeatedly nodding to its Funky Soul opening throughout, as Isaacs alludes to at the start with his “Boogie-woogie-woogie”.

The use of an electric organ brings the genre back into play again. Its arrangement is wonderful, with the left input playing dotted chord rhythms, while the right hits straight chords with the vibrato switch on, creating that classic, trembling sound. Anotha One have then also added a synth theremin as a response to the main melody’s call, building on the Funky Soul feeling. Horns also play their part, dropping the one and then using dotted rhythms across the two and three before hitting the final off. Reverb is then added to make them fade off into the musical distance.

Chemical Warfare’s electric guitars are another delicious touch. Played slightly near the bridge and run through a mid/treble amp they have a higher-passed, slightly rasping feel with additional bending and chromatic improv to add to the whining timbre. The call and response backing vocals just pile on the Soul even more, and the whole arrangement is a detailed and elegant mix of Roots and something funkier.

Then, Isaacs just finishes this off the concoction perfectly. He has an infinitely laid-back voice, but one that paradoxically commands attention. His range is strong; pitch on-point and his use of dynamics and intonation expressive. Isaacs also uses an interesting vocal trick of accentuating the vowels in words: ‘ahs’, ‘ohs’ and ‘oohs’ all become more pronounced and elongated. This clever trick serves to accentuate the lyrics and draw attention to important words in the narrative. He’s a fascinating performer, and Anotha One’s production is the perfect platform for him.

Ray Isaacs Chemical Warfare is a gorgeous piece of Roots-Funky Soul hybridism. Anotha One are quickly proving what a stellar outfit they are, and Isaacs is an intuitive and compelling artist. Slick.

Ray Isaacs Chemical Warfare review by Steve Topple (13th June 2020).

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