Emanuelle Di Sabatini's music seems carefully directed in making you feel fully intrigued in its cryptic nature. It arrives without any concrete hints as to how it's going to unfold before your ears. The pseudonymous producer is based in Rome, but his releases are conceptually detached from that place; living in his own enigmatic world of dark tone psychedelia and electronica that snapshots with Hip-Hop reminiscent flow. He doesn't belong to Pop or any other cliche genre. Instead, he belongs to a particular clique with features a persistent following, and that manages to hang leverage for any ear to find enjoyment in its unique smokiness. You might call it experimental in a way. However, Emanuell—the performing songster performing under the stage name, "Jaws Elevate"—favors memorable toplines melodies and adjacent hooks found throughout the timeline of contemporary music. But his dynamic beats and overwhelmingly clever use of mysterious synth orchestrations exudes a totally eclipsing light over that descriptive mindset, as we filter and oscillate between the ambient expanses of his music.
This loosely defined character is fleshing out ambient-electronic classics that manifest over sometimes dark, but profound expressions that shapeshift between the abundant effects featured all over Sebastien's lyrical slayings. On this record, his demeanor suggests that he's not concerned with these cryptic and hazy sounds purely being absorbed with the restrictions of identification and specificity in mind, and blossoms under his creative intuitions on 'Paintings,' the Italian's debuting Extended Play. This elusive record works on the level of Logic's discography, mainly in how it takes you a journey through its playback and immersive, otherworldly reality.
Jaws Elevate's new record is just as bewildering as the mentioned works above but offers a more profound, darker, and buzzier spectacle. The consistency is part of his appeal, with catchy turns and flips mixed into every hooks reverb with every corner, giving the record its intricate yield and unique surprises. "Blue Paint" is a whistling pulse that sits unplaceable on the scale between eloquent and vibed-out. It sounds vaguely organic, as indebted to the banging 32nd note beat taking effect over the hi-hats, as the effecting ambiance seeps deeper into the hearts of our curiosities. "Divided By Pride," another achievement of layering hypnotic samples and melodic genius, feels more compact in shape, and nearly sultry in movement and sway—it's as adjacent to the sonics of mainstream radio this extend play reaches to, while still managing to sustain its glow in the cryptic omniverse Sebastian has created for his true audience.
Though there are seldom any lead solo parts or instrumental cut-offs that affect the flow and linearity on "Paintings,'" the EP still manages to shine through with its haunting harmonies and myriad of layered vocal effects. Ghostly hums trace the contours of "Comfort Zone"—a mesmeric fractal of ambient electronics, intermingling amongst a wailing electric guitar and a robot-effected topline vocal—while "Don't Go" rises on dirty guitar squeals and sonic fluctuation that remind us of The Technicolors screeching guitars on "Tonight You Are Mine." It sounds like a song brewing over the tail ending of a relationship gone sour.
"Blueman" recalls Sebastien's floating Emcee like cantor from his opener track, but this time the textures are more old-school reminiscent, centering around a more tightly knit production that unfolds like you're watching a theatrical performance; be-jeweled with a halfway transition that earns this track it's highlighting status over this record. With blips that feel like we're trapped in a room next to an otherworldly manifestation of Jaws Elevate, as he lays down his filmy flow over a sonic texture that oozes like it's coming out of an old record player. The track bleeds periodically into lo-fi radio like wanderings and ambient shams—transmissions of what genuinely manifests and reveals his most authentic and revealing form-an an innovator. We're hopelessly scrambling over picking up the pieces of our defragged minds when this cut fades out.
On "Paintings," which invites similarly potent rhythmic fragments from the track before it, flushes deeper into a more desolate picture where his provocative burst and corrupted beats feel like a gibe; tangling and strutting with effecting elegance. The truth echoes out here, Jaws Elevate finds influence in the sonic prophets "Daft Punk" and "Denzel Curry," as his final cut from this EP offers up a rendering of robotized vocal effects, and disorienting rallying huffs and yells, that impact with such force, we'll be talking about the afterglow effects until late next year.
Can you tell us a tiny bit about the struggles you've had curating this EP and its journey?
It all started one year ago when I met MASO, my actual producer, and now a friend. We worked a lot and in a week we made “Blueman”. The idea of the EP came to life when we made the second and the third song, “Don’t Go” and “Comfort Zone”. I really like to paint so we put some of my paintings on the cover of the songs. Everything is connected, lyrics, colors, emotions. It is really difficult to be in front of the microphone in the recording studio because you feel naked, everything becomes real, and you have to fight with your demons again.
What conducted you in your ideas of how one song should blend into the next?
The idea of this EP is that every song is a painting, every song has a color, an emotion, and a personality. The desire of love, alcohol, and depression are the main themes. That’s what connects them. The first two songs are depression and rage; the third is the description of what I think as an attempt to suicide; the fourth regret; the fifth suicide; and the sixth song is a dialogue between me and my therapist. So as you can see the EP flows through the stages of depression.
How do you fuel your artistic intellect on days when your motivation or focus is just not there and did you find yourself tapping into this ammunition for the record?
Motivation comes from music, books, and positive people. I always try to stay inspired. I believe staying away from negative people that surround our lives and setting our goals is the best way to stay motivated. Goals are the most important thing and always necessary to keep pushing forward. I constantly use good energy to defeat bad energies and write bad things to exorcise them in a song.
You brush on some profound and exposed borders on this record. How do you incorporate the energy and concise storytelling arrangements you seem to use effortlessly throughout your songwriting?
When I write I listen to my inner part, bad things inspire me most, so I try to vent the rage and transform it in music. I listen to every genre, study lyrics, structures, and ideas of other artists. I always try to learn something new every day.
Can we expect to see you streaming anywhere live this Summer or later this year to further promote this EP? Or maybe some new releases that will reach us in the tail end of August or September?
I have four new songs that I’ll release between September and December, and they all are part of the new EP. I prefer to release one song per month because it creates continuity and keeps me inspired and motivated. I also have a live session project that I’ll record at the end of the month with the band I formed. I can’t wait to perform live with this new project.