Ed Scissortongue

Better.Luck.Next.Life (High Focus Records)

16/20

Though it’s teetered towards a level of national attention in the past, the underground UK hip-hop scene seems to strive onwards without giving too much about of shit about wider recognition. But Ed Scissortongue of Contact Play’s debut solo effort Better.Luck.Next.Life is an album which would probably impress many if it found its way into their headphones.

Scissortongue’s decision to team up with producer Lamplighter is inspired. The instrumentals are poignant, eerie and paranoid, usually based around a restrained and mid-paced beat – maybe just a kick, a bass thud and some handclaps. It’s a sound that provides an apt backdrop for Scissortongue’s surreal, grizzly lyricism, leaving him totally devoid of obvious samples or hooks to hang onto or hide behind. Scissortongue’s style is immensely technical, and there’s barely a line here which doesn’t sound like he’s had to sweat for it. Tracks like Rosegarden see Scissortongue paint typically gloomy scene-setting imagery (“Cast in a concrete cenotaph planting and penning raps, parcelling venom sacks”), and then dragging out extended punch lines (“If point A’s where I’ve landed then point B’s where I wish I was at/In between said points is a storm cloud forming the fore-written laws that enforce how the stories elapse”), that make you imagine him pulling mental gymnastics, counting out each syllable and trying to figure out a way to squeeze in another assonant rhyme.

For serious UK hip-hop heads, the diehards who source out Children of the Damned side projects and turn up to Ramson Badbonez shows, Better.Luck.Next.Life will probably be one of the key releases of the year. But for the more casual UKHH fans, those who fondly remember finding Falling Down or an early Music From The Corner CD in an older sibling’s glove compartment, we’d suggest burying your head in this record for a few days.

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Words: David Reed