Of the many things that connect the human race, a desire for individuality may be the most paradoxical. We gravitate toward those with whom we have similar tastes, but we all want to be our own person — someone more than another cog in the system. Musically, society praises the familiarity of the Top 40, but it also pines for artists to grow and alter their sound over time. It’s a tightrope that both artists and audiences traverse when creating and consuming music. But where the average music listener walks this wire from one tree trunk to another in some city park, the musician who makes a living off their art is recreating Philippe Petit’s walk across the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The consequences of failing to give people more of what they love while also being different from the rest are far greater than any listener making a personal judgement on the work in question.
Fortunately for Shamir Bailey, a 20-year-old, North Las Vegas-raised countertenor and upcoming Pitchfork Festival performer, he is as unique of a musician as any; he survives the aforementioned extended metaphor.
With Disclosure-esque synths, a healthy amount of brass, and a range of generally underutilized percussive sounds, Shamir successfully blends his musical influences. Combined with his uniquely-pitched voice, Shamir repurposes these influences into his own world. With “On the Regular” and “Call It Off,” peppy vocal delivery leads to dancing denizens of electropop. With “Demon” and “In for the Kill,” his croons glide gracefully. A lot is going on throughout the album’s 11 tracks and 41 minutes of material, and yet nothing is lost in the mix. Even Ratchet’s final song, a bonus track, is vital to the debut; “KC” is an acoustic performance that strays from the general sound of the rest of the album, and an example of where his early influences come from as well as what he is capable of in the future.
If there’s any song you listen to from Ratchet, it must be “On the Regular.” Shamir uses the catchiest instrumental from the project and self-centered lyrics to introduce himself to the world and create his identity, much like what The Slim Shady LP cut “My Name Is” did for Eminem. Throughout the track, Shamir proclaims, “Five-foot-ten, about a buck twenty / Skinny as a rod but still won’t fuck with me / Wise ass n***a, you’d think I was 50” … “Haters get the bird, more like an eagle / This is my movie, stay tuned for the sequel” … “Yep yep, you know that I go / This is me on the regular, so you know.” These words are a testament to Shamir as an artist: Like it or not, this 20-year-old musician is here to stay.