Name: Part Towards Whole / A Crow’s Smile
Brand: S Raekwon

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SI-LBJ-304

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2020-02-07

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

648401030471

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Total Cap

1 / 7" / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

S Raekwon

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Saddle Creek

Saddle Creek release the tenth installment of the Document series, S. Raekwon’s Parts Towards Whole / A Crow’s Smile.

S. Raekwon was born out of the need to create something beautiful during a period that felt colourless and transitory. Finding himself alone in a new city following graduation, Steven Raekwon Reynolds embraced his new-found isolation, throwing himself into his music, the only goal to create something both personal and beautiful. 

Finding moments of clarity after passing through a personal storm, the first fruits of Steven’s labour arrive in early 2020, his debut work released as part of Saddle Creek’s burgeoning 7” Document series. It’s also, notably, the first music to be released by Saddle Creek that arrived via the label’s online demo submission page, a leap of faith from both which kick-started this journey. Offering a striking snapshot of S. Raekwon’s considered craft, the two songs here were recorded in his small studio apartment, where he wrote, recorded, produced, engineered, and mixed everything himself.

Making for a wholly thrilling introduction to the artist behind them, lead track Parts Towards Whole blends Steven’s musical inspirations, which range from James Blake and Frank Ocean, to Grouper and Nicolas Jaar, to create a meditative reflection on sustaining a relationship; on “the beauty and doubt at the heart of that feeling,” as Steven himself puts it.

Literary influences are also present in Steven’s work, and he cites Milan Kundera’s surreal and intimate The Unbearable Lightness of Being as a key influence on the 7”, while b-side A Crow’s Smile was directly inspired by Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, which he read at the recommendation of a friend in order to help combat a crippling bout of insomnia and anxiety, and which pertinently shaped the songs final form.

Part Towards Whole / A Crow’s Smile

Music US