Roaming the realms of spiritually organic sounds, Morillo has extracted a new level of production during quarantine. He puts this on display in the form of an EP via Gravitas Music titled Shades of Green. Morillo originally landed on our radar over three years ago, featured in edition 205 of the FUXWITHITFRIDAYS playlist. The attention catching track ‘HUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE’ was an enigmatic sampling of Kendrick Lamar that we could not overlook. Since then Morillo has expanded on his signature sound and fine-tuned his production process. He has taken the time to utilize acoustic drums as well as acquiring a healthier understanding of engineering, allowing for an elevated listening experience. Moving away from strictly electronic sounds to recording live percussion and other sound aspects resonates a different musical sentiment. Shades of Green could be described as an extension of nature transcribed through sound.
Upon the first listen-through of this EP, I was immediately tossed into a world of deep green jungle vibes and the exploration of unknown yet familiar territory. Providing a properly fitted project name, Shades of Green feels as if reggae walked through the trap and bass aisle of SoundCloud. The direction listeners are led in feels like a guided tribal meditation as we begin with ‘Badmon Sound’ that introduces the entourage of acoustic surroundings. Moving into ‘Secrets’, Morillo encapsulates a healing sound where Evan Hatfield plucks away at the sitar before meeting Meg Gardener who provides original spoken word poetry. Up next is ‘Champion Sound’ where we see PRZM featured to assist with bringing alive those reggae vibes in mesh with a barrage of bass.
The title track finishes moving listeners from the understood nature they once knew and into a new tranquil state of meditation removed far from reality. Stepping into the next song, ‘One$$’ picks the pace up with the perfect execution between bass and percussion patterns. A slight sound of wind instruments floating through the background adds an even more uplifting feeling to an already high energy track. Closing out the EP with ‘Rain and Mist’ this song is a nice awakening to the meditative journey that was provided. A perfect blend of subtlety with slight heavy bass rooted underneath.
When listening to Shades of Green I recommend grabbing a warm cup of tea, opening the curtains to let the sun shine through, and allow the meditative vibes to take over you. Listen to Shades of Green in full below out now via Gravitas Music.
