‘Pressure’ is the second release from Ra Gerra – the Irish electronica / hip-hop duo consisting of electronic musician and producer Kobina and rapper and singer MuRli.
Despite being separated by about 2,000 kilometres, the Amsterdam-based Kobina and Limerick-based MuRli have forged a partnership to produce melodic, shifting music with emotive clarity and immediacy.
‘Pressure’ is a surging, energetic track, capturing the disarray we experience – and courage we find – in dealing with our self-imposed expectations and the demands of the world at large.
MuRli (A.K.A. Mawuli Boevi) is a rapper, producer and songwriter, who is well known for his evocative lyrics, incredible technique, and is widely sought after for both his pen and production. His first two solo EPs, ‘Surface Tension’ and ‘Till The Wheels Fall Off’, have been lauded by critics both at home and abroad for being both catchy and flawlessly capturing the heart of moments and movements.
MuRli says of the track: “It’s often said that pressure produces diamond, and while that may be true, the crushing is still painful and ultimately there’s little guarantee that the outcome would indeed be a precious stone. It takes courage, endurance and vision. This is a little reflection as we draw our own blueprint out of the pressure.”
Kobina is Dublin-born, Amsterdam-based musician and producer Seán Arthur. His work pulls together diverse and often disparate strands of music to create textured, rich and emotive sounds. After three well received E.Ps, the latest being 2019’s ‘Four Poems’, in 2020 Kobina released the charity compilation album ‘For Nora’ featuring collaborations with a number of his musical peers, as well as original material.
Kobina says: “The music for ‘Pressure’ came together at a pretty low point for me, personally. The world felt particularly chaotic and I wrote it with the intention of reflecting that. Although musically it’s made of pretty disparate components, I wanted there to be a sense of momentum and drive, to reflect the feeling of how sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get through another day. Later in the song some new elements appear, manifesting a crack of light, an undercurrent of optimism.”
Bandcamp: https://ragerramusic.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/09iZZroko68P8Vjw8Cqxhk?si=iogit-u1SV2rL5RLF-NxEg
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ragerramusic/
TW: https://twitter.com/ragerra2
