”
Written byNick Trethowan
With a brand new single ‘Tell Me’, Khamari effortlessly slides into this week’s favourite track.
With our recent inclusion into the curation team at SubmitHub, we have been opening our doors to the incredible music from international artists across the world. A few days in and we found Khamari.
A multifaceted independent artist, songwriter, and producer, Khamari grew up in the Dorchester neighbourhood of Boston, MA. His artistry wraps his powerfully earnest songwriting around contemporary sonics, with stellar production and a super-conscious range in his work.
Skilled as a vocalist and instrumental musician, Khamari’s music is distilled from influences ranging as wide as The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Sly Stone, to Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, and Mac Miller. After releasing his debut EP ‘Eldorado‘ to a warm critical reception, Khamari seemingly disappeared for over a year. His heart breaking single ‘Doctor, My Eyes‘ – released a full year after his debut EP, and followed by another year-long hiatus – bridged the gap between eras, as Khamari now rounds off 2022 with two singles, ‘Drifting’ and ‘Tell Me’.
“‘Tell Me’ is about that feeling of insecurity you get in a relationship while watching it deteriorate from the inside. Dealing with the vacuum of doubt and confusion that bad communication leaves, but not acting on it because you’re hopeful it’ll work itself out.”
The first of his 2022 single releases was ‘Drifting’, a smooth listen with immaculately layered instrumentation which perfectly complements Khamari’s majestic voice. Centered around a sample of Nina Simones chopped vocals from ‘Feeling Good’ the track is a clever and almost romantic ode to floating above the thick worries of life.
While the track explores the messy angst of escaping through substances, Khamari’s wordplay and effortless cadence perfectly create the modern-day tale of a love/hate relationship. There are shades of Frank Ocean on Blonde in this track, but Khamari brings his own distinct sound to the genre with a more rap-orientated style.
Bringing us to his latest offering. Dropping today (11th of Nov 22) ‘Tell Me’ is a sultry breakup ballad for the ages, capturing the moment when there are no answers left to unbreak a heart. With a slow and powerful delivery, Khamari laments at a relationship that is fading away and begging the question, “If your heart’s someone else’s, Baby would you tell me?”
Easily one of our favourites finds this year, Khamari has a sound that we love and want to hear more from and can only hope we don’t have to wait another year between the next release!
For more of our Visceral features, click here.
