Greyscale

One of colour bass' most accomplished producers makes his own move into a grittier, UK-flavoured style of bass music - the sophomore album for Paper Skies is a respectable entry into his newer era.

It's not, of course, his first project in the style - that would be the Canvas EP, released on Monstercat last year - but it is his first full-length album in it, and his increasing attention to concept becomes apparent.

That is to say, Greyscale is a little more cohesively sensible than its colour-driven predecessor Wireframe. Whilst the debut album often lost sight of its structure (though said structure was still promising), Greyscale sticks to its late-night-radio throughline for its entirety. Granted, it is an easier throughline to stick to - particularly with this brasher, clubbier style of production blending with that radio throughline - but Paper Skies does a commendable job nonetheless.

Greyscale begins with "Radio Intro". It's a short, thematic intro that puts forth an anonymous DJ in the style of an up-and-coming artist interview - in the later-reinforced tongue-and-cheek fashion of these little radio breaks, it is, of course, Paper Skies himself being 'interviewed'. And, of course, in that same tongue-and-cheek fashion, the Toronto-born producer presents himself as entirely unknown and seemingly unresponsive - that is, until, the album starts properly.

We move into "NEW & LOUDER", a fitting name for what is the first pillar of a new era. It becomes immediately apparent that Paper Skies is targetting a sound engineered more for a live audience. Big, strained synths and smatterings of vocal samples precede drops that stab and stab with an abrasive, and occasionally unfortunately monotone, quality. The rhythms through this first movement tend to be quite simple, often leaning on more minimal riddim drum patterns (notably "NEW & LOUDER" and "HANDS GO HIGHER") to push the heavier dubstep drops through, though there are a fair share of switches, while you can still pick out the not-infrequent splash of colour from Paper Skies' future riddim days.

There's a bit of hip-hop flavour present, too. The brasher approach to the production and samplework proves indispensable to this added flavour, and whilst Wireframe did feel much stronger on a track-by-track basis, the foray into hip-hop does its work in compensating.

The hip-hop flavour comes out much more in the second half, though, after Paper Skies brings out the particularly satirical "Commercial Break". It's a double-edged seasoning, reminiscient of the dual citizenship of his contemporary Skybreak's HALF BLOOD album just last year - "Honesty" is that deep, dangerous UK-grime sound, with DR MAD spitting over a fat and bassy dubstep beat; meanwhile "Breathe" and "I Want It" draw more from American hip-hop scenes and maintain a slightly more melodic sound (at least, compared to the sub-destroyer of "Honesty"). 

It also feels like Paper Skies begins to experiment a little more through this second half, something which was, to some extent, missed in Wireframe. At the very least, Greyscale marks a step up as far as diversity goes. Further than the new hip-hop signatures, there's the wonky-sounding first drop of "I Want It", as well as Bentley Montes' emo vocals (paired with joey falcone's guitar) on "How U Feel" in a somewhat rickety marriage with Paper Skies' riddim production, or the restrained pop-esque "Point Of View".

Somehow, though, with "Rising Icon" and "Radio Outro", Greyscale maintains its cohesiveness very impressively, always managing to wrap its tracklist up neatly into the frame of a live radio broadcast. Thematically the former is particularly notable - the satire of AI-boosting is prevalent as the album moves forward, and it's a mockery with a personal undertone. Indeed, Greyscale is as much of a personally charged album as Wireframe. It is just as much of a discussion of the nature of artistry, but it is exploratory where Wireframe was introspective, keeping in line well with the more explosive and outward-facing production it aims for. And here, the shorter length works well - the record does not overstay its welcome.

Even still, the quality of Greyscale doesn't quite compare to Paper Skies' previous work, even to his Canvas EP last year in a similar style. It lacks a little bit of stylistic flourish and creative songwriting that he is often so proficient at, and in appealing to a live environment it feels like it has sacrificed some of the interesting production for danceability.