Artist/producer Kale X recently released his debut EP ‘1 SXMMER’ on June 13, 2018. The title is representative of two things; a summer fling that winds up lasting longer than planned and as Kale X says, “the summer that my life changed” as it relates to his music career. He sees where the project could create new opportunities for him as his style of music could be a game changer for the industry. The usage of the letter “X” in place of “U” in the word “summer” is to show that his music has that “X-factor’ as the sound is uniquely refreshing and combines a mixture of Dancehall, Pop and Afrobeat.
The first single off the project “Hold U FRVR” has a vibe that is supposed to invoke one’s inner Ravers. The song speaks about being caught up in the moment with said summer fling and wanting to “hold her forever”. The video for the track features the beautiful Catherine Reid as dancer and Kale X’s love interest.
KaleX – Hold U FRVR
Track number 3 ‘ All On Me’ features upcoming vocalist Dehshh, who Kale X has been working with on a number of songs. He recalls sending Dehshh an instrumental and within a short space of time she sent him the idea for ‘All On Me’. “What I love most about working with Dehshh is that her work ethic is crazy, she’s passionate about music and she has an amazing voice, her vocal ability adds tremendously to the international appeal of the song”.
One of the most meaningful songs from the EP, ‘My Name’ was inspired by Kale X’s desire to achieve musical greatness, explaining that one day he will have crowds chanting his name. An interesting fact to point out is that this track features voice notes he received from different persons reacting to his music and one proud mother congratulating her son on his accomplishments thus far.
Something I made notice of was that throughout the entire project, Kale X doesn’t use a single expletive. When asked about this he responded saying, “the only expletive on the entire EP comes from a voice note used in the ‘My Name’ track. It wasn’t necessarily intentional, I just don’t think the vibe I was going for would require me using expletives”.
1 SXMMER is available on all digital streaming platforms and has a total of 7 tracks, all mixed and mastered by Kale X and 5 of which were produced solely by him. Two artists featured on this project are Dehshh on ‘All On Me’ (previously stated) and Khxos on track 4 ‘1sxmmer’. Kale X gives credit to his Island Wav team for helping him complete the project.
‘1 SXMMER’ is definitely worth a listen.
