RYAN HEMSWORTH plays the BLK BOX Theatre June 15 as part of NXNE. See listing. Rating: NNN
Ryan Hemsworth does not slow down. Since 2012, the 23-year-old Halifax-bred producer has put out countless remixes of Backstreet Boys, Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey songs, guest mixes for BBC Radio 1, Diplo and The FADER, plus plenty of original stuff.
The latest free EP released from the self-described “remix game Ryan Gosling” – six tracks and one remix by Japanese producer Taquwami – falls into the latter category. While it’s mostly instrumental, Hemsworth expertly chops vocals on several songs to mesmerizing effect, including those of young Florida rapper Kitty (née Pryde) on Perfectly. Filing Still Awake under one genre is nearly impossible – ambient electronica? cloud rap? trillwave? (okay, not that last one) – but the producer successfully creates a heavily textured (if slightly short) effort.
Call it what you want: this is music best suited to soundtracking walks home from the club or late summer night insomnia.
Top track: Perfectly
