CRACKING THE MOSS CODE
On his soulful debut EP, the up-and-coming British R&B crooner comes fully formed with the voice and style that blur the line between genders
With so much new music getting churned out every day, it can sometimes be exhausting to sift through piles of new releases for hidden gems. Although this may seem like an inevitable curse that comes with the prevalence of today’s music streaming sites, once in a while you do come across artists worthy of your time and attention. Which brings us to Moss Kena, the 20-year-old newcomer who blew music bloggers’ collective minds with his smooth and sultry rendition of Kendrick Lamar’s These Walls.
A year later Kena followed up with his first piece of original music titled 48 (ft Jay Prince). The song brilliantly captured the neo-soul spirit in the same vein as Prince, Maxwell, D’Angelo, and Etta James. At the same time, he embraces the experimental side of soul and R&B, paying homage to the more contemporaries artists such as Amy Winehouse, Autre Ne Veut, How to Dress Well, and Active Child. All of these influences finally reach a high point on Found You In ’06, his debut five-track EP recently dropped via RCA Records/Cult Records/Ministry of Sound imprint.
Working in tandem with sought-after producers from Pluss (Beyonce, Drake) to T- Minus (Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky), Kena has delivered a sophisticated collection of neo-soul and noir R&B filtered through the supple vocals that many have mistaken for a woman’s. Lead single Square One sets the tone with the minimalist, funk-infused production that underscores his divine falsetto. “Sweet like cinnamon/I keep sinking in,” he moans softly atop slowburning groove. “One step forward then it’s two steps back/ It’s so heaven sent, here in hell again.”
You Don’t Know and Spend Some Time give us a bit of The Weeknd vibes. Featuring New York mysterious, ski mask-donning rapper Leikeli47, the latter highlights Kena’s ability to lay down his deep physical longing through simple songwriting: “Man, I wanna make you mine/If you have a minute we could spend some time … I wanna lose my inhibitions some more.”
Themes of longing continue on Games, a laidback jam in which he laments the hot-and-cold reactions from his significant other (“Mondays, you’re cold/ Not even the thought of me … But Friday nights reminded you of me”). Similarly, closer Problems find Kena fusing pop sensibility with flowing R&B rhythms. “Problems/Seems everybody got ‘em … Only thing we got in common/Problems,” he sings, channelling the nostalgia of ‘90s R&B.
Inspired by Amy Winehouse, whom Kena’s credited for giving him a “musical awakening”, Found You In ‘06 is a strong debut from one of the most exciting new voices. Though clocking in at measly 15 minutes, the EP tells a concise story of who he is as a budding artist and why he’s standing out from the crowded music scene. Remember his name, this guy’s going places.