Other artists have mixed classical and rap, most notably the Voelker Brothers on The Rapsody Overture. U.K. producer, writer and composer Blue Daisy (Kwesi Darko) drops classical themes into the mix on this album, but they’re his own compositions, not samples, and they add to the ominous feelings permeating the music. The songs are as dense and atmospheric as we’ve come to expect, the beats floating on a mash-up of electronic psychedelic excess, jazzy meandering, bluesy melancholy melodies, churchy organ chords and space music. The only voice on the album—except for one brief R&B serenade delivered by Connie Constance on “Alone”—is Darko’s. His tone is quiet, a whisper that slips from rap to spoken word, one minute the distorted growl of a horror-movie villain, the next the desperate pleading of a street-corner philosopher dealing with the life and death issues that plague us all.
—j. poet
