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Live Review: Baauer teams up with AJ Tracey and Jae Stephens for dancehall jam '3am'

20 July 2018 | 8:08 am | Holly O'Neill

After two years of silence BAAUER is back, trading out his future trap for bright dancehall/uk funky energy with the help of AJ TRACEY and JAE STEPHENS.

It's been a little while since we've heard from BAAUER, who's spent the last two years touring his last release, Aa. Now with the help of vocalists AJ TRACEY and JAE STEPHENS, the producer is back and trading out his heavy future trap for bright dancehall energy.

Atmospheric chords and melodies back a UK funky-meets-dancehall beat, this matched with AJ Tracey's chugging rhymes latches onto something primal that commands your body to move. The back and forth of the laid back rap verses and airy choruses courtesy of Jae Stephens mirrors the classic R&B trope, flipping it with the track's distinctly modern take on the soca pop wave.

Steel drums and tactile drum samples channel the organic roots of the genre, but a dense bass line and squeaky vocal chops prove this is definitely Baauer's own take. The swirling pads and melodic bass completely shift the mood of this whole track, taking the bouncy weight of traditional dancehall and giving it a grander scope and ominous density.

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Baauer and AJ Tracey seem to have gotten along swimmingly, and are natural collaborators as the producer teased that there may be more to come from this duo: "AJ and I first got in the studio in New York in early 2017. We both work quickly so managed to sketch out 5 records - but all of em just 1 verse and chorus long... 3AM” was the song that felt most like the Summer to us so this is coming out first. Summer records are always geared for the sunshine but this one’s got a heavy atmosphere to it: it suits the night time.”

Find Baauer's '3AM' featuring AJ Tracey and Jae Stephens on the downloading/streaming service of your choice right here.

PHOTO BY JAKE MICHAELS

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