Kiat Co-Releases Nightingale EP With UK Drum & Bass Pioneer, Digital

Singapore’s Kiat and the UK’s Digital are drum & bass veterans who go way back (Credit: Syndicate [left], courtesy of Defrostatica Records [right])

Singapore’s don of drum & bass strikes again with a collaborative record that’s getting picked up on radars around the world. Kiat, the co-honcho of Syndicate, has modestly dropped the Nightingale EP with fellow genre veteran from the UK, Digital AKA Steve Carr. The cross-country handshake is being promoted on Germany’s Defrostatica Records, a label specialising in juke, jungle and ghettotech sounds. Nightingale marks the second time the label has endorsed Kiat, following his Leipzig EP that tumbled out in 2016.

The artwork for the EP was designed by Kiat himself (Credit: Defrostatica Records)

The four-track EP is an embodiment of borderless ideation and mutual camaraderie; a mark of their friendship since the early noughties. Not only are the two stalwart producers alumni of the historic Metalheadz label, but Kiat was also involved in the artwork for Digital’s In The Lurch EP. “Here, we find them nursing their deepest creative state to date,” Defrostatica Records describes on the EP’s Bandcamp page. “Real music with real soul, this is a fitting salute from two totems of the game.”

Much like the chemistry between the two, this is a record that flows naturally, full of nuance and magical moments. The introductory title track is swirling calm that undulates methodically, dotted with detached beats and cosmic-leaning monologues. The record’s austere entrance eventually opens up into “Slugstep”, a more caffeinated drum & bass number with speedy, trickling breaks and delayed, dubby guitars. Kiat then presents the organic hues of “More Than One”, another spry, tempo-busting number which ropes in the gossamer vocals of Singapore’s own Weish and a dense horn section provided by Isaac Aesili. And balancing the equation, Digital wraps up the EP with his own remix of “More Than One”, busting out beefier drumwork that invigorates the tranquil vocal and brass elements with a 160bpm pulse.

All in all, it’s a record that does more than reinforce the indomitable global appeal of Kiat, but also puts our tiny city on the drum & bass map.

The Nightingale EP by Kiat and Digital is out now on Defrostatica Records. Support the EP on Kiat’s Bandcamp page.