Born in Guatemala, raised in Venezuela, and based in Barcelona, Simon Williams has been producing electronic music for quite some time now. Some of you will probably remember him as Jahbitat, a name he used for his musical output for years, since the beginning of the last decade. He was also part of the awesome but short-lived duo Narwhal, alongside Cristian Subirà, releasing only one EP (and a great one, BTW.) Now, Williams is back in action, as he just put out his debut EP under the name Sunny Graves.
The EP, titled Bayou, includes the song “Ghost,” which is a nice representative of what we can find on the rest of the song, and of what Sunny Graves is about, in general. Released through the Catalan label Disboot, the song feels more serious and elegant than his previous output, and is definitely in tune with the label’s catalogue, where we can find similar Barcelona-based acts like Downliners Sekt. The song is full of contrasting textures, overpowered by the saturated synthetic sound of the one-chord pad that runs throughout most of the track. It gradually evolves, from the fragile sounds of the introduction to the appearance of the hi-hat driven beat and heavy bass pulses, with the occasional “dance” vocal sample that creates an interesting polyrhythm. This is an excellent return of the veteran producer.