Dreamy production, heavy rhythms and cleanly-mixed, concise and purposeful bars – Akhil Warrier delves into his personal journey with melodic appeal and gritty authenticity united, throughout Culture Shock Pt. 2.
The opener is all of this – musically colourful, lyrically revealing, showcasing confidence and vulnerability in equal parts. Lines like ‘Tell me you love me, if you can’t then I won’t even love me” and “How can I make this party just slow down” start things off with sharp, relatable simplicity; ideas delivered in a mellow, reflective yet striking way.
Slowly but surely Akhil increases the pace, intensity and passion, by which point he has the listener hooked. The style is classic but fresh in detail and tone, and that quality rings true throughout the EP.
Indie breakthrough artists come to mind initially, but as that intensity and pace increase there’s a whole other realm at work. Time Of My Life is heavy, relentless, musically haunting and lyrically smart – balancing personal anecdotes with intelligent references and memorable metaphors. Akhil also balances humour and darkness in an effective way, proving both heavy and light intermittently as the project evolves.
From pain to progress, uncertainty through optimism towards the ultimate success of a well-crafted release, Culture Shock Pt. 2 takes the reins with self-belief and honest, often scathing self-awareness combined. Consider the deeply contemplative heartBEAT – blissful musicality and freestyle-esque musings on the ache of a love gone wrong.
Then there’s the growing anticipation and weight of Fresh Clothes, an anthem for sure, but one with a relentless rap verse that again captivates for its sheer loading of detail, story-telling and scene-setting. Akhil displays the very best of his intentional, meaningful writing and performance skills with this one – not a bar is wasted, not a moment irrelevant to the overall track.
With fakeLove the contemporary flow and sound-design of heavy bass and trap rhythms brings things back to the current scene, before What’s A Life With No Risk counters musical drama with a smooth, single-lined list-style progression that again depicts a versatile rapper unlimited by expectation.
We then get a further twist of creative pop production for the Outro Hustler’s Motto, within which that journey from drive and determination to reach and success culminates for a truly conclusive closer. One last hit of motivation, inspiration, confidence and a refusal to succumb to the opinions of haters.
At just seven tracks in length, Culture Shock Pt. 2 delivers only what it needs to, and underlines a rapper at the top of his game in the process.
Check out Akhil Warrier on Instagram or here.
Appreciate the kind words Rebecca. Your biggest compliment was ‘cleanly-mixed’ since I do everything on my own on a very questionable Mac book air lol Much love!