East London singer, songwriter and musician J APPIAH unveils his brand new single titled ‘WASH’, premiered via Ones To Watch. In keeping with his deeply humanistic and personal songwriting, ‘Wash’ is both, J Appiah coming to terms with the loss of a father he never knew, and a bittersweet meditation on the ‘what-ifs’ in life, with heart-stopping realness.
Musically a deep shade of blue, its sparse and minimal kick drum – insistent like the thud of a heartbeat – underpins his emotive vocal line. Sonorous piano lines colour ‘Wash’ with a sense of melancholia, remaining even when the expansive chorus drops. Bolstered by stargazing synths, the moment heralds a change in perspective from son to father, the kick drum palpitating with the heart-in-throat immensity of a beatific and tender moment of love.
Ultimately, ‘Wash’ is a razor sharp display of the porous boundaries between J the artist and J the young man, understanding the world on his own terms. His is an artistic persona dependent on the realness of lived experience, an artist embracing rather than escaping the burden of selfhood. It is this expression, through the mediums of music and lyrics that has seen him garner strong support from BBC 1Xtra, Complex, BBC 6 Music, Clash Magazine, Dummy Magazine, MTV Base, and The Line of Best Fit, among others.
Speaking about the inspiration for ‘Wash’, “this record is a conversation between a son and his father, and it’s also about spirituality. I wrote this song after a trip to India earlier this year. I came back so inspired by the culture, the colours, sounds, and people, I was just moved to write this song. My dad passed away a few days ago, and I never knew him, but I wrote this song at a period of time when we were trying to get in touch quite a bit after so many years. I guess he knew he was sick and had begun to reflect on life. The chorus of this song is written from his perspective”.