– Hot like lava and sweet like guava, “My Sound is Heavy” is the result of Subatomic Sound System and Brooklyn-based Jamaican singjay Screechy Dan teaming up to pen a love song to a girlfriend from Kingston, a sound system, and all the people in the dance. Out now on all digital platforms, “My Sound Is Heavy” was born from the joy of a Jamaican microphone veteran singing sweet soulful melodies and chatting in a foundation dancehall reggae style about the things that make life great and interconnect us all when we come together to celebrate. Three versions — a main Vocal mix, an “Ancient Wisdom (Melodica Dub”) mix, and a “Dubstrumental” mix — are available to stream everywhere.
LISTEN “MY SOUND IS HEAVY”
Inspired by classics from Nina Simone & Sam Cooke as well as original Jamaican DJs like U-Roy and Sister Nancy, Screechy developed this song with Subatomic on last summer’s tours opening for Jack Johnson & Stephen Marley across Europe and the USA. The infectious tune had audiences hooked when Screechy began freestyling on producer Emch’s instrumental melodica dub, a nod back to Augustus Pablo’s Rockers productions, reinforced with the thump of a Subatomic kick and snare beat, Troy Simms’ Motown style horn blasts and Ethiopian sax melodies, and peppered with percussion legend Larry McDonald’s congas and shakers. The song “Ancient Wisdom” returns to the instrumental roots of the riddim with an Ethio-jazz horn melody up top and melodica lines throughout.
“The song actually came to me during a Subatomic soundcheck,” explains Screechy on the origins of the new song. “The bass line was real heavy, so I started improvising, and when Emch asked what that was, I said to him, ‘just a lile freestyle,’ and he said ‘I think we got something,’ and now here we are.”
Emch added “I remember recording it all on my phone right there — felt like capturing lightning in a bottle.”
Subatomic & Screechy will be on tour next week in the US supporting this release with a series of 88th birthday memorial shows for dub and reggae Lee “Scratch” Perry. For the last decade of his life, Scratch toured and produced music alongside Subatomic Sound System with Screechy Dan providing most of the singing and chatting on their acclaimed 2017 Super Ape Returns to Conqueralbum, a take on Scratch’s 1976 Black Ark classic reimagined with the 21st sub bass propulsion of Subatomic’s live performances. Subatomic is in the Smithsonian Museum’s current Afro-Futurism exhibit which includes interview and performance footage of Lee “Scratch” Perry & Subatomic.
As part of the famed dancehall Ruff Entry Crew, alongside Shaggy, Rayvon, and Red Foxx, Screechy Dan was a crucial element in the NYC convergence of hip hop and dancehall as shown in the 2023 critically acclaimed documentary film “Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall.” Known for 90s party classics like “Pose Off”, Screechy goes back to the dubwise roots of dancehall on this release with Subatomic.
Subatomic had strong success in 2023 filming alive session for KEXP that went viral, producing songs and mastering a dub album for Jack Johnson, and performing and producing hits for a younger genera#on of rising Jamaican stars including a relick of the classic “Police in Helicopter” with Yaadcore & Jah9.
