Tropics Harbor Cover Art
Tropics, the musical alias of UK vocalist and beatmaker Chris Ward, is surely on to something. On his new track "Harbor," he transgresses all borders between R&B, chillwave, and instrumental electronica, and Okayplayer is very pleased to present its world premiere.
Much of Ward's material trades on the R&B futures market that's become so omni-present on SoundCloud and indie radio in the past four years. But Tropics defies the scene's bedroom-ish borders, primarily via the repeated use of buoyant acoustic drums; past releases like "Rapture" and "Home & Consonance," Tropics proves that seduction can, in fact, exist out of doors. This is music for rooftops and rides with the windows down."Harbor" rolls along over a funky drums loop, gradually blossoming into sunlit R&B touched by beam of synthesizers; despite his captivating voice, Tropics is careful not to over-sing on "Harbor," and wisely lets his winsome production do most of the work. By the three minute mark, chords begin blooming like watercolor paint dropped onto damp canvas, and quickly we're off into exhilarating new images. Flowing, but with a clear sense of purpose, "Harbor" is a point of departure and return, indeed.
"Harbor" can be purchased over on iTunes, and you can listen to the official premiere of it below. This one's transportive in a very, very real way.
