A vital collective member and resident, JAMIIE steps up for her long-awaited debut EP on Watergate Records.
The artist has been a regular at the club stretching back to 2016, when she joined RISE, the Afro House collective thatruns monthly residencies at Watergate. Despite this, JAMIIE has always gone her own way sonically, exploring deeper house and melodic tones, alongside the Afro influences.
A constant at Oberbaumbrucke spot during the 2020/2021, she, along with Kristin Velvet were the beating hearts of the club, hosting the Watergate Worldwide streams every week. This year has been a standout for her playing Tomorrowland, Exit Festival and supporting Solomun at Watergate, among many other highlights.
Following up label contributions which include ‘Suwedi’, with Niko Schwind that featured on Hyenah’s ‘Watergate 27’compilation and the fantastic ‘Echoes’ on ‘Watergate 20’ due out November 2020, we’re treated to a generous five-track package for her maiden EP outing on Watergate Records.
Beginning life during a summer-time sketch session in bed (her favourite spot to start new creative ideas), ‘Voices’ is an emotive weapon, driven by a captivating synth lead, and chunky Afro-infused bottom end. "’Voices’" is mysterious and is inspired by our thoughts, our inner voice,” JAMIIE shares. “There’s something truly mysterious and remarkable about our inner voice, the means by which we make ourselves aware of who we are and what we think and even feel. Our inner voice is very powerful. It can lift us up and weigh us down. It also makes decisions for us, even when sometimes we don’t want to listen to it.”
‘Unfold Me’ is a glorious end-of-night future classic, as grandiose synths rub shoulders with beautiful bass melodies, before a delicate key interlude gives JAMIIE the opportunity to build the energy right back up again. “This has a personal meaning and again, has to do with the journey inwards to discovered ourselves. Like many other people I am an extroverted introvert. I think we can be quite confusing and peculiar to others. On the one hand, social and outgoing; on the other, very guarded, selective and hard to get to know. So, it needs time to unfold the layers to understand an extrovert introvert person, if they should let you in,” she explains.
The originals are complemented by a trio of tight remixes chosen by JAMIIE, from three artists close to her heart: Portuguese Afro Tech producer DJEFF delivers a blissfully silky re-work of ‘Voices’; Italian artist Malandra Jr., whose most notably released on Diynamic, crafts a chugging and cosmic reinterpretation of the title track, while Stil Vor Talent’s Annett Gapstream sends ‘Unfold Me’ on a dreamy orbit skywards.