Oakville, Ontario’s quami.xyz has released his third single from his upcoming, sophomore EP, NO ONE ASKED via “i know the sound” via AWAL. The songwriter, producer, and vocalist follows his previous lead-up singles, “Running Away” and “Luh Me Weak” with “i know the sound:” a layered piece of music giving some of quami’s thoughts on racial inequality. The track is a long time in the making, but Quami explained online that now felt like an appropriate time to release it: “This is something I’ve wanted to address for some time, but I didn’t want to come across as another person taking advantage of the pain that people are going through. I wrote this song two years ago, and I’m glad that I can finally let it go.”
Distant, star-gazing production finds quami in a reflective mood as a series of patchwork production pieces bounce off each other. Longtime buddy and collaborator, dru.xyz co-produces beautiful, twinkling synths and metallic crunches scattered about discreetly between breezy chimes and shapeless bass tones. Still though, the overall piece as a whole is minimalistic, providing room for his submerged vocals as they rumble low and distorted. After a brief introduction, quami’s delivery drops this filter and runs earnest and boyish, singing lines like, “Black kids are hanging from trees / you call that suicide / look at the history and you decide” and “Buried in the dirt to reach for the sky.” quami described his relationship with the song in saying, “The black experience cannot be challenged or explained in under three minutes, so I will continue to revisit this topic more in my music as I grow as a person and an artist.”
For those new to quami, check out our interview and, of course, stream this trio of singles ahead as we await NO ONE ASKED.
Photo credit: Rhys Smith
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