Conjured between New Jersey and New York through producer JWords and rapper maassai, H31R managed, right at the start, to reveal a vision that, without cutting off the connecting thread through hip-hop’s history, finds a new route from different eras and sources - jersey club, electronica or boom bap. 'Ve·loc·i·ty’ from 2020 was the statement of intent that ‘HeadSpace’, released last year through Big Dada, came to confirm and expand through a sound that’s as exploratory in its shape as resonant in its delivery. Over JWords’ fluid and hypnotic soundworld of fractal beats and psychotropic keys, maassai weaves an intricate web of rhymes that flow into memorable hooks and glimmers of r&b that bring to mind the dreamy landscapes of KING or THEESAtisfaction’s languor - not by chance, two groups aligned with a DIY spirit and a psychedelic bent - without any particular set of identifiable references. It’s a world all of their own, unto which we gather.