“I feel like I've been set free of something and I am now becoming who I really am,” says George Evelyn. As Nightmares on Wax Evelyn has – for the last 30 years, as Warp’s longest serving signing – been consistently at the forefront of contemporary music, creating a unique blend of electronica, jazz, hip-hop, techno, dub, funk, soul and techno.
“The world had stopped and I'd slowed down but time speeded up,” he reflects. “So my conversation with people was more like, ‘what's going on inside? What's the inner voice saying?’ As a result, he formed creative bonds with upcoming talent that slotted in with both the history and evolution of N.O.W. The likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Haile Supreme, Mara TK, Sabrina Mahfouz. Greentea Peng, OSHUN and Pip Millett all feature.
“I wanted to ask: what is freedom? Everybody's got a different concept of it. I realised that internally, we all want to be free of our shit and it doesn't matter what it is. So there are shout outs to freedom in each song. They're all different cries and different calls but there's a coherent feeling through it.”
When all the guest’s contributions were complete and the album was meticulously assembled to what we hear now, Evelyn picked up one last powerful and potent theme that came oozing out of the grooves. “I think it's the story of the human spirit,” he says. "There's an underlying element of Shout Out! To Freedom… that is very, very personal for me.”
