Paul Lupa, in his layered symphony “What’s the Dealin,” dances to the rhythm of deeply interwoven notes that spin a web where reggae meets roots; an exciting oxymoron. Drenched in labyrinthine sounds of Hamburg’s solitude, he constructs veritable musical watercolors with Jamaican-born Jah Mason’s vocals – a rumbling thunder on a whispering canvas.
His production plays like Braille as it feels more than just heard, its complexity forcing us to run our fingertips through each ripple of bass and percussion, all meticulously intertwined by this masterful maestro. The remarkable Florian “Stahl” Muenzer matches note for note on guitar in this thrilling audio dance-off, whilst Cédric Munsch breathes life into his horn sections that might even make Coltrane blush.
Drum tracks entrusted to BigFinga add rhythmic poetry; call-and-response between generations lost in music jazz clubs from old decades and those yet born into the 21st century beat labs. This is Paul Lupa painting beyond borderlines of genres—the embodiment of universal refrain—in chillingly delightful dedication to Nazar Moawad via his “Flashlight Riddim.”
A paragraph is barely enough cup room for this oceanic offering—a tide pulling you under swiftly while also teasing your senses with soft lulls as if asking ‘what’s the deal(in)?’. Despite its interrogative moniker though, we find less questions here than answers whispered beyond words but inside melodies birthed at sound-crossroads; resulting not just listenability but lived experience!
