From the first, icy lines of opener “You Stayed” to the brash, glass-shattering beats of “Victim” and the warped, discordant layers of “Vffected”, it’s quite clear that Visionist’s debut album is a brilliant, statically-charged creation. Born and raised in London, the producer has injected the sound and influence of the city into every corner of the album, using the pitch-shifted vocals of UK garage, the dark futurism of British electronica and the DIY beats of grime and twisting it into fresh new shapes.
It’s also a challenging listen that’s full of tugs and turns. “The album is about anxiety,” Visionist explains. “It’s a sound representation of an anxiety attack, from having that one thought and that thought turning into multiple thoughts, and finding yourself having an attack, and then coming out of that and managing to relax again. It takes you through that experience. That’s one of the reason’s it’s called ‘Safe’. For me, when I have anxiety I take myself away from the place that I’m in and take myself to somewhere I can be more in control.”
“It’s also a comment on where I feel music is at the moment," Visionist adds. "Too many people are playing it safe. Too many people are returning to nostalgia. I write music the way I want it to be heard right now to try and create something something new.”
