Like being spat out of a stuffy, underground train station and finally feeling the crisp breeze of
open air
Bakerz Dozen drags you through the cold, industrial murk of your metropolis all the way back to your home.
Wu-Lu and POiSiON ANNA’s shared stylistic vernacular burns bright in this project and allows for seamless drifting between the genres of trip hop, post punk, dub and jazz, that are intrinsic to London’s sonic undercurrent. By bleeding abrasive break beats and industrial sirens into the silvery smooth wailing of saxophones, Bakerz Dozen pushes and pulls you through contrasting scenes that feel like navigating the claustrophobic footpath of a watery cityscape before providing the relief of finally reaching a vast, glittering harbour - so similar to Gadigal’s own.
An umbrella of dissonance shrouds most of the musical phrases in this album in a shadow of mystery that is satisfyingly resolved by the withdrawal of instrumentation, like a reprieve. I felt this was especially evident in POiSiON ANNA’s vocals, and her vibrating between a firmness in her delivery and sweet pleading. Crisp and clean before being saturated in ambiguity by ghostly vocal effects.
The most striking example of this comes from my favourite track on the album - ‘King Kong’. Kicking your teeth in from the jump with chest palpitating drum and bass that is somehow made even more foreboding with recurring signal sounds. But fear not, this all falls away into grainy electric guitar about halfway. Matching the intensity of its preceding section and finding cohesion in the shared loudness of these juxtaposed genres. Like two sides of the same coin. To me that pattern is the beating heart of this album.
Expansive, mechanical, evolving and somehow still earthly, Wu-Lu and POiSiON ANNA’s Bakerz Dozen is my score for the season. Let it in, and let it be yours too.
Words by Alisha Kanthasamy