Paul Institute - Summer 2020 EP
Written by Nathan Evans
This generation of music listeners has become accustomed to alternative styles of mixing and sound quality, largely due to the simplification from vinyl and CDs to kilobit streaming, and the leaking of tracks across the internet. Lo-fi has become a normality in music now, far from the world that Jai Paul, who is no stranger to leaks and demons, grew up and blew up in, when his two official tracks and leaked album re-shaped alot of sectors of music. After over a decade of dormancy, Jai and his music has functioned heavily on the imagination of the listener, and the power of potential. Potential that was robbed from him when his album demos leaked in 2013, prompting him to shun the music industry entirely until 2019. However, he and his brother (A.K. Paul) have spent the past couple years behind the boards, mentoring and producing for a selection of artists in what is known as the Paul Institute. Its output up until this year has been some intermittent singles all bearing the same vinyl-label artwork, but now this new Summer 2020 collection is the biggest single drop of music yet, smartly and conveniently packaged into a compilation EP.
Offering one track from each artist on the label (including A.K.), the Institute has accrued a roster of artists come from all walks of life, be it a part-time firefighter or the offspring of celebrated bassist Pino Palladino (no prizes for guessing who that is). Refracting in the music, the Paul brothers are mindful to spotlight the individual qualities these artists hold, such as REINEN’s operatic vocals that scream Kate Bush, or Ruthven’s love of 80s synthpop and Minneapolis funk. In totality, the EP is a fragrant commingling of each artist’s unique interests and the Paul brothers’ signature grainy, reference track-style production.
That interlinking mix can either create a groundless, intimate space for these various contortions of synth-funk and alternative R&B, or an awkward distance between the listener and song, clouded by static air. To give the best highlight right at the top, Ruthven’s ‘Have You Decided?’ gives a feeling that one will give anything to sustain. His gorgeous falsetto starts the track in pulse-stopping fashion, before bursting into life with all its Peter Gabriel-infested kitsch. Equally, Fabiana Palladino’s ‘Waiting’ relays the cheesy pop to perhaps an overbearing degree, particularly in its saccharine synths and lustred bassline. But underneath is for-sure a prosperous tune that flaunts Palladino’s vocal talents, and the Paul brothers’ mixing gives it a lived-in, weather-beaten quality and some much-needed edge.
However, the style of production employed here can sometimes be the main point of fault, such as on the climax of HIRA’s ‘Unreal’, a decent-enough track with enveloping, Blade-Runner synths and crystal vocal harmonies. But when the hook rolls in, it’d be easier to find the Zodiac Killer. The chorus is barely present, washed out in a barrage of sound effects hurtling towards your face. As well as this, the very opening cut, ‘Be Honest’ with A.K. Paul, seems to be lost in a single idea, never really escaping the feeling of a demo on the production side either. As much as there’s a good beat behind it, comprised of bubbling bass and salutarily-dulled chord stabs, there’s little on offer here besides a good vibe, and what new addition Pen Pals do on their contribution to the EP has a similar blueprint, but is executed far more hermetically.
So, the final product is almost an archetypical mixed bag. It’s almost second nature to compilation EPs, however even in its finest moments, there's still this feeling of purgatory, that the Institute is still not yet off the line. Whether that's a positive or negative is up to you, because if the Institute could, say, battle-test this sound and put it onto a set of artist albums (perhaps even released GOOD Friday-style as they did with the singles of this EP) that would truly glue eyes onto what’s taking shape here.