Artist: Johnny Wxlf

Label: Independent

Type: Mixtape

Genre: Country/Indie

Length: 10:30

Johnny Wxlf has had a very productive 2018. Releasing two projects within the first four months. One which was an exclusive to theBelvedere Temple and was made available for streaming and download – MMMMM Swayze? The latter was a collaboration with Vanity Of Man. Now Wxlf is back with his sophomore solo effort, his last solo drop was in 2017 with Passive Aggressive Disorder, which was actually a smashing drop.
Though there is a very fine line between consistency and over saturation. There’s no denying that Wxlf has a really good ear for good music with his unique sound which infuses experimental sounds such as Rock, Electronica, Soul, R&B and Hip Hop. His last solo effort managed to channel a number of different genres but it still didn’t sound distorted and it was a tight body of work.

The Art Of Breathing Underwater is a short four track EP released for streaming on SoundCloud. It taps in more on the slow side of Johnny’s sound, taking away the aggressive demeanor and organised mess that you can often pick up in his music. The EP opens up with The Art Of War, which seems to express Indie and Country elements with Wxlf busting into a comfortable melody. The follow up to that is Surface Level, which still continues with the Country element. This time he’s teamed up with Kira for the hook – Kira happens to be the only guest on the tape. Wxlf goes on to talk about his friends, drugs while Kira smoothly comes in with a hypnotic chorus. The song sounds like it could play during the closing credits of a Western movie.

It Was He, is one of my favourite songs on the EP, with the trippy psychedelic elements, it’s easily the best song on the offering, as he talks about breaking away from the pain, maintaining his chic melody. The EP is broken into two parts, the first two songs have a very prominent Country aesthetic. While the second half gets very trippy and drug induced. 5:15 ties up the tape so well, Wxlf sings about avoiding death, but on the other hand trying to breathe underwater is flirting with death in the first place. But I guess that’s the where the art comes in.