SoDown has done it again with his powerful Worlds Beyond LP

Ehren Wright A.K.A SoDown is the rising Colorado-based star who has been turning heads in the bass scene since the inception of his project in 2013. He has been making music and learning the craft professionally for about 11 years now.

Since he was around 8, he used to make mixtapes on a tape player and rap over them. Wright played a variety of instruments throughout grade school (cello, drums, guitar, etc..). “I remember specifically in elementary school, lugging around this massive cello that was bigger than me hahaha. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t know music was my calling until I started going to EDM shows. I loved the way it brought people together and got everyone on the same wavelength. I felt I could contribute to the better of the world by creating art and bringing people together. That’s been my mission ever since”, he said some years ago in an interview with raverrafting.com.

He released “Worlds Beyond”, a pleasure trip that manages to balance two apparently opposite concepts such as life and death, but which necessarily depend on each other to exist. It is an LP in which the artist makes a balance between organic instrumentation, digital production, well-detailed sound design, great rhythms, and -of course- booming bass. 

Ehren, first the name. Is there any special reason to call this album ‘Worlds Beyond’?

Yes!!! I wanted to express my interest in the concept of mortality and my fascination with it. Both in the concept of the afterlife and the benefits of realizing our own mortality frequently. 

The stoic concept of ‘Memento Mori’ is heavily woven into the album. The idea is that frequent reflection on our own mortality helps us to live now, fully, with wisdom and love. 

The album has 12 songs and although it bears your personal stamp, many of the songs were made in collaboration with other artists. How was that process? How enriching is that for an artist?

It’s amazing! I absolutely love working with other artists! It’s so fun to bounce ideas back and forth and to see and feel that creativity. 

How is your personal process to transform an emotion into a sound that conveys what you want without words?

This is a difficult question; I suppose it just happens naturally. There are of course lots of nerdy production decisions that can be made such as key, scale, tempo, sound design, etc. But I don’t think about that much.

We would like you to take a moment to describe in a word or two the songs in your album. It could be a musical or emotional description:

Take it back: Funk bass blaster

Phantom: Ethereal anthem

Makin’Dem: Reggae-infused bass experiment

All go wrong: I fall; dead leaves in September 

Gas Down: Cowboy shootout in space

Deep End: never give up

Dinero: Narcos

Underground: the darkness inside us all

Running out: time is ticking…

If someone doesn’t like or hasn’t heard your previous work were to read this interview, how would you convince them to give an opportunity to this album?

I wouldn’t. If they don’t want to listen, that’s okay with me haha.

However, it would be ideal to take the time to review his musical material, because it is a style capable of generating positive reactions in anyone who listens to it. Wright’s musical influences are unbound by contemporary genres. From funk and reggae to classical and jazz, no stone is left unturned in his musical exploration. Whether he’s improvising or meticulously crafting a well-thought-out tune, Wright describes creating music as a “spiritual journey.”

He has performed at festivals like Coachella, Electric Forest, Global Dance, and Sonic Bloom with his saxophone-DJ hybrid performance. He has also performed at iconic venues such as the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and Red Rocks with Boogie T for a sold-out concert.

After giving fans their first taste of Worlds Beyond via LP tracks “All Go Wrong (feat. Bailey Flores)” and “Take It Back”, SoDown dropped his latest single “Running Out” on Friday, September 30.

The song begins with a quiet melody and Bailey’s voice leads through a soft ethereal space as louder sounds are incorporated his voice also becomes much higher until ending in the artist’s characteristic musical download.

SoDown said “Running Out was written as a reminder of the communal fate we all inevitably face and a reminder to live now, for there is no other moment that will ever exist “.

As part of his ‘Worlds Beyond Tour’, SoDown will play an exclusive hometown concert at Denver’s Mission Ballroom on Friday, February 3, 2023, which will be preceded by a concert at Freaky Deaky and Ember Shores.

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