Cholombian

It won’t take hours of analysis and scrutiny to conclude that Cholombian’s music is a world away from the brash and flagrant boasts of money, bitches and power that inhabit certain breeds of hip-hop and R&B, but nonetheless there’s still an underlying affinity to these worlds in his warm, contemplative sonic tapestries.

Seeking instead to draw upon the tender and reflective, it’s the likes of Aaliyah, TLC, Kelly Rowland and Ciara with which Mitch Stevens more closely aligns. While his meditative, often sprawling creations won’t be filling Oceania dancefloors at 1am for the time being, it’s the underlying emotions – love, longing, loss – of R&B rather than the aesthetic that is referenced in his music. Further inspiration lies in the sonically challenging and explorative realm of atmospheric, progressive black metal, with bands such as Liturgy and Wolves In The Throne Room keeping the aforementioned global superstars company in Mitch’s music library.

It’s with films, though, and more precisely their soundtracks, that Cholombian identifies the most. A keen student of the evolution of the cinematic score, he is well-versed in the early ‘70s and ‘80s analogue synthwork of Giorgio Moroder et al, through to the digital sparsity of more recent composers such as Cliff Martinez, and holds a particular fondness for the sweepingly majestic orchestral prowess of Danny Elfman.

His burgeoning body of work has already begun to capture imaginations, picking up airplay on BBC Radio 1 from the likes of B. Traits, Gilles Peterson and Rob Da Bank, the latter of whom proceeded to sign the producer to his latest label imprint, Silver Bear Recordings. Cholombian’s last EP, ‘Heart In The Right Place’, sold out within the space of three days, while his remix earlier this year of Mercury Prize winners alt-J’s ‘Bloodflood’ surged to 25k plays in under a week of appearing online.

His live presence continues to grow as well, and after an impressive 2013 – which included the honour of warming up Bestival’s main stage ahead of legendary Philadelphia outfit The Roots – he enters into the summer with a string of further festival dates lined-up and a tour in the works.

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