After striking up promising momentum around his music in 2021 and then much more recently, with his latest track ‘For Real’, Perth songwriter and musician RHY now comes through with his debut EP, DUMB FUNK.
Peppered with strong indie-pop sounds, not to mention clever funk and R&B stylings that can turn anyone’s ear, the DUMB FUNK project is RHY in a nutshell: not tethered to any one particular style of sound, instead following where his piqued interest will take him. And as the EP proves, these forays can often end up in exciting and vibrant places.
Recorded and engineered by himself out of his home studio in Perth, RHY worked on the DUMB FUNK EP with James Newhouse (Lamb Chop) on final mastering. The end result: glossy and addictive music that will be a perfect hit of new sounds for fans of BENEE, Remi Wolf, The Jungle Giants and Billy Davis.
“DUMB FUNK has been a chance for me to explore my sound as an artist and despite it being pretty diverse sonically, the end product feels cohesive as a whole. The EP’s been recorded and produced across three home studios, as I’ve moved house three times in the process of making it. As much as I look forward to co-writing and collaborating on future projects, I felt it was important to define RHY myself before inviting others in. I also fully suck at team work, so I’m looking forward to getting better at it!”
RHY
Featuring lead single ‘For Real’, as well as 2021’s ‘I Just Don’t Get It’, ‘Right In Front Of Me’ and ‘Full Grown’, the DUMB FUNK record plays with light and shade in a clever way. Strip the lyrics of their vibrant production and arrangements, and you can hear RHY tap into some more vulnerable territory. EP tracks like ‘Ten Minutes’ and title track ‘Dumb Funk’ further explores the artist’s own approach to life and as he describes, the EP as a whole can be viewed as a little sneak peek into his brain.
“DUMB FUNK is pretty much my brain in EP form. Mainly focused on confronting the frustrating parts of my personality, DUMB FUNK deconstructs my thoughts and what makes me tick as well as what ticks me off. It’s about overthinking, overcommitting, under thinking and under committing, but in the same breath acknowledging the struggle and being cool with it.
I’ve always had an interesting relationship with the D-word (dumb, not death) and lyrically this EP is quite vulnerable, but I think making these songs fun and feel-good is my way of disarming it.”
RHY