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Review

Album Review: Collie Buddz - Take It Easy

09/29/2023

by Steve Topple

Four years feels like a long time between albums in music now. However, for an artist like Collie Buddz it means that perfection is reached – which is exactly what’s happened with his long-awaited new album.

Take It Easy, released via Buddz own label Harper Digital, sees the Bermudian artist hone his sound and style across 12 tracks. Most of the production comes from Buddz and his long-term collaborator Jason ‘J-Vibe’ Farmer. This means the album is consistent across its tracks – with a mixed and mastered finish which is exquisitely rich and warm, compounding the overall musical and lyrical narratives of the project.

Not to put too finer point on it but Take It Easy is arguably even better than its predecessor, 2019’s Hybrid – not least because of the sheer attention to detail seen across the Reggae-led tracks. All of them have underlying traditional musical devices present - bubble rhythm keys and drop-beat basses – but with variations which, while delicate, are intelligent and inventive – and on occasion, drop Reggae entirely.

The title track, previously released, sees Buddz take on summery Reggae vibes across a rich arrangement. The chord progressions are pleasing – particularly the shifts into the bridges – elevating Take It Easy above standard Reggae. The inclusion on an electric organ, at times replicating a bubble rhythm and at others running heavily vibrato’d chords, cements the warm vibes, and overall, the track is an instant classic.

High Grade (International Herb) changes tack slightly, with the focus being on more traditional Roots Reggae. Little wonder, really, as Buddz and J-Vibe have used the classic Culture track International Herb (written by Joseph Hill) as the basis for the song – interpolating the most famous part and even sampling Hill himself on the opening line - but then switching the lyrics and melody up after that. Horns strut in and out on call and response duties too, and the lilting electric organ finishes off this chilled-out, Sunday morning cut perfectly: a fitting reworking of a classic.

The previously released Brighter Days moves the sound forward again – here bringing in a Hip Hop drum line (with the snare being the focus), some keen use of Ambient synths and engineering, and classic Dub breaks (which are particularly stark and evocative). However, at times the track smooths out with some pleasingly lustral bridges – and Brighter Days finishes up as a winding yet jagged Reggae Fusion track.

Having recently released You Around, it serves as a modern Lovers Rock cut – but bringing in intricacy on the backing vocals (with nice Doo-Wop harmonised vowel sounds) and a pleasing minor key bridge. Then, Close To You is another Hip Hop-Reggae Fusion cut – but heavier than Brighter Days. The kick is hard, the chipmunked vocal sample unsettling, but the occasional use of Dub-styled reverb across the keys’ bubble rhythm makes sure you know what genre the track is grounded in. It makes Close To You a highly effective yet brooding piece of work.

No Bush Weed featuring B-Real of Cypress Hill fame is a glorious tribute to the 90s Hip Hop that heavily influenced Buddz. The drums are heavier and more ominous again, the bass has been orchestrated and engineered to make it deep and resonant, and in the background, you can just catch some synth horns – evoking the influence of 70s Soul on 90s Hip Hop. B Real’s verse is a revelation – and the whole thing is quite brilliant.

The previously released Twisted Agenda featuring Bounty Killer (and co-produced by Bobby Konders of Massive B) takes on an almost Revival Reggae sound: those hard Hip Hop drums coupled with a brooding minor key arrangement. Again, though, and the track is more than just that. There’s a gloriously engineered synth melodica line that’s shrill and unnerving, coupled with an eery electric organ. Killer is on-point as always, and the track is sumptuous yet unsettling - perfect Revival fayre.

Mr. Wicked sees Fatbabs come on board as co-producer, taking Take It Easy back to some classic Reggae vibes. Guitars perform a pleasing skank with is nicely reverbed to smooth out the sound, complementing the second guitar line which has influences of Cali Surf Rock (warm yet whining). Then, Trap Set featuring Demarco switches up the Reggae mood again – with its unsettling arrangement, minor key, and a stunning Rock-heavy electric guitar line that breaks out into its own solo at the end. The starkness of the overall arrangement is pure class – as is the guitar solo at the end, and Demarco’s compelling vocal.

Money Up featuring Jamaican-born, Cali-based Keznamdi switches the entire thrust of Take It Easy up. The fresh, stuttering arrangement draws on a broken Dancehall rhythmic clave, Afrobeats in the snare, nods to Trap in the hi-hats, and something RnB in the use of other instrumentation like the winding, dampened synth keys. It almost feels like UK Afro Swing – and both Buddz and Keznamdi’s vocal performances, sitting somewhere between singjay, laid-back rap, and straight vocal, compound this. It’s a brilliant cut – and shows both artists’ ability to turn their hands to anything.

Collision featuring Floridian rapper Danny Towers takes the sound further to the side again – this time, visiting pure Afrobeats. It’s a classy, well executed arrangement that employs those signature, forward-moving yet stuttering drums, excellent work across the breaks and bridges, and an intermittent kick. Buddz and Towers doing Afrobeats may sound strange – but it’s a stroke of genius, again showing both artists’ capabilities.

Hold Firm concludes Take It Easy – returning the album to its Reggae roots. Here, the track is fluid and filled with momentum, with an attractively picked guitar line, some lovely glissandos across electric keys, and (once again) pleasingly arranged chord progressions. It serves as a fitting musical conclusion to the album – cementing Take It Easy’s overall thrust – but Hold Firm also encapsulates, while bookending, the album’s lyrical content.

With this, the narrative construction of Take It Easy is as smart and compelling as its music content. Buddz has created one, overall message – while ensuring each individual track peaks and troughs with the detail of this. From Take It Easy as one bookend to Hold Firm as the other, Buddz is imploring us to beware of the system and how it represses and ensnares us all – while also pleading with us not to let it grind you down completely.

He’s not shied away from dealing with the negative on the album.Twisted Agenda’s cautionary tale of life under Babylon and how its proponents push its agenda is coupled with Mr. Wicked’s building on this narrative – which is then moved forward by Trap Set, which serves as a warning to anyone being conscious and truth-telling under the system.

The lighter tracks like You Around see Buddz tackle human vulnerability, here with some brilliant word play (“I can go from Superman to zero with one text”) while Collision is essentially a clean-cut gyal track. However, all this is juxtaposed by the positive messaging found elsewhere – most notably those bookends. Take It Easy implores us to not get too caught up in the system and give ourselves some personal space, while Hold Firm is its stronger cousin – reminding the listener that, despite Babylon’s trials and tribulations, emancipate yourself at every opportunity: “Love your life, it’s a gift… get a girl, fly away, take a trip”.

All these narratives are cemented by their marrying with their respective and reflective musical backdrops (Trap Set’s shrieking electric guitar line and Twisted Agenda’s haunting melodica being prime examples).

Overall, all this means that Take It Easy is perhaps Collie Buddz' best work to date. Infinitely listenable, he and J-Vibe have crafted a finely tuned selection of effervescent compositions, which are then laden with just the right level of narrative and storytelling – resulting in a project that treads the fine line it lays out perfectly. One of the strongest releases of 2023 – and surely a Grammy nod incoming to boot.

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