The Bass In My Body

Kelela “Contact”

The first verse of “Contact” describes hearing loud bass-heavy dance music at a party as a surreal experience, a pure and intense sensation that disrupts a sense of time. The music captures that feeling by nudging its 90s-style beat loop into slight distortion and filling out the mix with synthesizer parts that feel a bit eerie and detached, like you’re somehow hearing the beat up against the speakers but everything else is a room away. The sound suggests dissociation but Kelela’s vocal is very present and grounded as the song turns from describing the feeling of being at the party to trying to seduce someone who’s clearly too distracted by their loneliness and stress to surrender to the moment.

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