Neu Fossil

: Fossil
Based: Texas
Listen: fossilmusic.bandcamp.com

Sometimes you’ll hear music that’s so stark, so distinctly opposite to everything you’re used to, that it’s worth taking a step back. Come back to it with a clear head. Start over. Press play and see if the same thing happens.

It’s the impact of Fossil’s music that does the first trick. When was the last guy you heard a rapper who, for purpose or default, sounds a lot like the baddie in the SAW franchise, backed by chopped samples and a lo-fi aesthetic? You could probably draw parallels between this and WHY?, at a push, because it’s all emotionally charged hip-hop that’ll appeal to idiots like us that crave something different to exist in their earphones. But it’s so different it’s besides comparison.

Once the novelty of the experience wares off, you’re still left with the story. Fossil, we’re informed, is one guy who’s experienced a hell of a lot of loss. His spoken word tales of absent fatherhood and girls that entered and exited his life hit hard. It might be calculated, right up there with Bon Iver’s ‘cabin’ story. And it’s the stuff press releases dream of in their sleep. But it’s interesting.

Every song on Fossil’s Bandcamp comes with lyrics. Each tells a story of its own far beyond documentation in this introduction, which we’d aimed to keep swift. But indulge in these ‘love letters to the lost soulzzz’ and you’ll doubtless find yourself in a similar situation: Initially lost for words and then gushing with energetic phrases and emotions. When something this fully-formed and by definition unique hits you with its fullest force from the very start, you’re a vulnerable target. But an introduction to Fossil worth the heavy blow.

Stream the Low sampling ‘Mexico City Midnight’ track from an EP of the same name, below. Thanks to yvynyl for the introduction.

Mexico City Midnight by Fossil