Since obtaining his math and computer science degree last year, Samy Beyou, known by most as SampliFire, has been tearing his way through the dubstep scene with consistent earth-shattering releases. From the solo Mancubus EP, to the collaborative Termination EP alongside fellow Frenchman Ivory, to the highly-anticipated Never Say Die Vol. 6 ID titled ‘Pump It Up’ with Gentlemens Club, it seems as if the bass connoisseur has been on an inspiration binge over the last six months.
Channeling this creativity into his music, SampliFire is back with his third project since September of last year. Out today on Never Say Die: Black Label, the aptly-titled Nightmare EP is actually what dreams are made of for heavy bass enthusiasts. A relentless offering of skull-shattering, crowd-ready heaters, every track on Beyou’s latest project is an intricate composition piecing together the various stages of a nightmare. Sure to captivate your attention from front to back, the Nightmare EP is a further display of SampliFire’s ceaseless growth as a producer.
A burdensome weight rests upon your eyelids as you cling to every last fragment of the waking realm. Fit for your arrival, a siren heralds a foreboding welcome as your conscious drifts unsuspectingly into the perilous grasp of ‘Nightmare’. A Persian-infused riff sets the stage as brain activity diminishes, slipping further and further into the confinements of the nether. Your greatest horrors actualize as a hydraulic riser escalates the tempo of the pervasive urban gauntlet, launching suddenly into calamitous plateaus of bass that mimic the precipitous free-falling of your subconscious.
Arms and legs are rendered inoperative, body temperature decreases, and your heart-rate begins to decelerate as the turmoil of this ill-fitting sleep possesses your entire being. Repetitive bursts of metallic clicking swarm your hypothalamus amid massive surges of bass and daunting breaks, creating a jagged rhythmic soundscape for ‘NOVISV’.
In a nightmare, the most terrifying scene comes when one is face-to-face with the monster, with no hope of survival on the horizon. In the deepest stage of sleep, salvation seems impossible, as if being the ‘Last Man Standing’ on an island of bloodthirsty creatures. SampliFire builds to this imminent reality with an orchestral soundscape and fitting effects, before a “prepare to fight” sample catapults the track into a brutally savage attack. In a constant back-and-forth between the protagonist and monsters, ‘Last Man Standing’ is a true display of the terrors of a nightmare, but the conclusion reminds us all that this is but a construct of the mind.
“In the REM period, breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed.” Capping off the sleep cycle is ‘Whoomp’, where a dream-like euphoria is created in the introduction to plant vivid imagery within the listener’s dream. The rapid brain activity of this stage is depicted through the chaotic nature of the track, as SampliFire flexes his synth prowess to draw one last parallel between his impeccable Nightmare EP and the brain’s most active period.
Words by A. Samuel Lewis and Steph Contant.
