We caught up with Brooklyn native Esseks to get a breakdown of his latest EP, FEAR NOT.
Brooklyn’s eminent producer, Esseks, known for masterfully blending bass-heavy sounds with captivating visuals, has graced us with his newest EP, “FEAR NOT.” Released today on the avant-garde label, Memory Palace, the seven-track collection paints a poignant narrative on the transitory nature of emotions and life itself. Tracks like “Cut The Tape” and “This Will All Be Over Soon” emphasize themes of change, both harrowing and freeing. Beyond the sonic experience, Esseks, otherwise known as Sam Eckstein, further envelopes listeners into his world by pairing the EP with his signature artwork, creating a comprehensive artistic journey that surpasses traditional auditory bounds. While Esseks’ bass-driven aura remains a staple, this EP reveals a more intimate side, originally crafted for personal catharsis rather than public display. Memory Palace’s consistent support has been instrumental in bringing this deeply personal project to the forefront, once again championing artists who push genre boundaries. Dive into the “FEAR NOT” experience with the just-released music video:
For those unfamiliar, Esseks, hailing from Brooklyn, intricately weaves bass-centric genres, offering listeners an enigmatic yet playful soundscape, accompanied by his very own visual artwork. Memory Palace, curated by Of The Trees, stands as a beacon for limitless artistic expression, celebrating the innovative spirit of its diverse roster of artists. Check out the new project below:
Esseks Track-By-Track Breakdown:
Cut The Tape: This was a track I started from just playing the chords while I was in my feelings. Most of these tracks came out of that tbh. I like sitting down and getting my feelings out playing chords then I started putting loose vocal melodies over it with autotune and a bunch of distortion. I don’t even remember what I was saying but I liked the way the loose mumbling played into the autotune so I kept it and did a bunch of processing on it.
This Will All Be Over Soon: This is another one that started with just playing sad chords on a synth while in my feelings, but when I added the child laughing sample it gave the whole thing a more complex emotion that was sad but also happy all at once. I couldn’t put my finger on what it made me feel but it made me feel something and I fell in love with it immediately.
Fear Not: This is a track that came together in one sitting and even when I went back to refine it, nothing I did in later sessions made it better. I would do a bunch of work on it and realize the original version still sounded better to me. It’s rare that you get it right the first time and I kind of feel like you can hear it in how the track sounds. It’s spontaneous sounding which I love.
Wait4Me: This one was kind of a completely different song that I chopped up and turned into something else. I kinda just deconstructed a soft sad song I made and tried to basically remix it to make something else and liked it better than the original so ran with this version.
More Everything: I actually made this shortly after hearing about Charle’s passing. I didn’t really know what to do with myself so I tried going through some old project files we worked on together years ago but never did anything with. I took a bunch of the sounds from the project file and made something new. It felt like a way to connect with him again.
Dead Meat: This is a track me and Tiedye Ky made while he was visiting me in Brooklyn. It was still the tail end of the COVID lockdown and we were just getting stir-crazy so he came to visit for 2 or 3 days that weekend. We made 2 tracks together and walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It was completely empty thanks to covid. Good weekend for sure.
Fuxaround: This one came together the same as all the others towards the beginning. Sad Sam playing sad chords to make himself feel better. Then I came back to it later in a better mood and made a dubstep drop lol. Sometimes that’s just how it goes.
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