Subculture Shares “The River Bend” Video Featuring Rachel Chinouriri
UK producer Subculture and rising British/Zimbabwean artist Rachel Chinouriri today share their visual for “The River Bend,” first screened by The Fader’s Digital Fort 2.0 over the weekend. Both the track and video’s concept were inspired by how racial prejudice and the misunderstanding of other people’s cultures can warp someone into feeling deeply emotionally, psychologically, and physically threatened by the harmless presence of others, watch HERE.
Opening with the steady pulse of a repetitive bass line and Chinouriri’s smokey vocals, Subculture underlays the surface of “The River Bend” with twisting, constantly shifting percussion, eerie, ricocheting electronics and piercing, haunting bursts of woodwind and brass, letting these elements build until they overtake the song. Says Subculture, “I wanted to create something classic sounding with a futuristic spin, kinda like if Kanye produced a Nina Simone record.”
Taken from his 2019 critically praised mixtape, I DREAM OF EVERYTHING, “The River Bend” embodies Subculture’s fluid approach to genre and ability to seamlessly maneuver between styles, honed over years of producing, songwriting and DJ’ing. The result is distinct: a collage-style of production that sounds as though you’re flicking through a box of dusty records in real-time, picking up a bit of hip hop here, jazz there, psychedelic electronics and a little soul along the way. Drawing on these influences, Subculture creates an emotional soundscape laden with tension.
Says the video’s director Otis Dominique, who is also behind recent striking visuals for Kojey Radical, Nike, and more, “when I sat down with Subculture and heard ‘The River Bend’ for the first time, I knew the film had to be made! Symbolically, Rachel stumbles across a place that’s unfamiliar to her on her journey. Confronted by strange, unwelcoming inhabitants that try to deter her from her path, she builds confidence and resilience as she takes them on one by one. A feeling of judgment is sensed throughout the piece and I really wanted that to intensify as her walk grew longer.“
In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and with the intent to spark more action in the fight towards racial equality, a portion of label streaming revenue from “The River Bend” will be donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund as well as The Black Curriculum.
I DREAM OF EVERYTHING mixtape is out now, buy it /stream it HERE
About Subculture
Haifa-born, London-raised Subculture (a.ka. Edan Feldman-Vazan) became entranced by hip hop, jazz, guitar, and more from a young age. Drawing from years touring and spinning as a DJ, Edan developed a penchant for marrying organic, soulful instrumentation with pulsing rhythms and forward-thinking synths and samples. He would go onto cofound experimental UK hip hop duo Subculture Sage as well as the record label, Twisted Hearts Records. Subculture released his debut solo effort, the I DREAM OF EVERYTHING mixtape in late 2019, featuring collaborations with some of London’s most promising new acts including Connie Constance, Rachel Chinouriri, Nayana Iz, Tertia May, Louis VI among others. The mixtape garnered praise from the like of BBC Radio 1 (Top 20 EP of 2019), Jamz Supernova (Top 5 EPs of 2019), The Line Of Best Fit, Colors, Notion Magazine (2020 Ones To Watch), among others, and landed a spot on HBO/BBC’s breakout TV series, I May Destroy You.