First Look Friday: COMMAND and the New Sound of Atlanta
Meet C O M M A N D; a new-new artist and heavyweight talent by way of Atlanta and Arizona, whose beautiful, unclassifiable project WATERMOUTH dropped last month. WATERMOUTH was written, composed, arranged and performed at his home studio entirely by Command—singer, songwriter, musician, rapper and Aquarius—himself. WATERMOUTH is a nostalgic inaugural record about the love experience—the human experience—and momentum in creativity. The heavy instrumentation and infectious melody in "I Wonder," the first single from the album drew me in, and the authority in his deep, classic-ish baritone kept me there. COMMAND's way-back, babymaking r&b sound over contemporary--and lest we forget self-made--compositions is refreshing.
Command is [re]introducing himself as the recently re-named and self-aware C O M M A N D. His chosen artist name, simply, is about power, force, and influence…and also an homage to the 'command' key on his laptop. The record title refers to that wet mouth you get when you’re too faded --you know, right before you throw up all that peach Ciroc?--and also to the uncontainable and unfiltered nature of the creative process. When asked about why he chose that particular double-entendre for a title, the two-octave difference between Command's speaking voice and singing voice is pleasantly surprising:
"[The name] WATERMOUTH speaks to the project because I feel like I have all this music inside of me that I need to get out and I could have held it back to keep it from being released because in the past I've held back certain projects, but I feel like this is an unfiltered perspective of myself and I put a lot of myself in there; it’s about not withholding the flow of creativity and information. I didn't want to make music that would just pop off I wanted to produce an offering that resembles what I actually think about."
Process is a big deal for Command, and experimentation is a significant part of that process. His favorite records are risks. He likes to experiment with different and not necessarily complimentary sounds—he cites Stereolab as his favorite band, and Kanye West, Pharrell, Amy Winehouse, and Marvin Gaye as influences. Time is the other crucial element to his music. Old-timey musicianship is something he really values and flexibility in time signature is something he likes to investigate:
"I take a lot of cues from people and techniques of the past, even the cover…I wanted it to resemble a vinyl cover. [My favorite records are] "Tony Newman" because it’s talking about real shit, and I like "Kind of Animal" because it’s in 5/4 time signature, and it was also this vacation feel to it. I literally wrote it while I was on the toilet. The whole song is kind of off-kilter. And Swaziifunk, if you listen to it there are a bunch of samples through there, I’m basically talking through the record, it’s kind of unconscious. I don’t really hear instrumental tracks on independent albums. I think it’s one song that can bridge the gap between the modern generation and [the past]. Some of the elements of the past have been lost from traditional r&b music, and that old feeling and old way of creating…really I did it so I could take a break on stage, and get a beer or something."
The nipples on Watermouth's NSFW album cover haven’t even had time to get cold yet, and he’s already planning the release of his next extended project for the fall, Law of Motion. In the meantime he’ll be thinking about mental clarity, getting the music back to the things that matter, and playing moogs somewhere in Atlanta. Check out the entire stream below and download here.
