Bai-ee and Johnny Fiasco: How Deep

How Deep is a tour de force from Chicago exile Bryan Bai-ee, taking you from the floor and secret cubbyholes of the Red Dog to the rooftop afterhours where the night lingers and is burned off by a sunrise’s glorious golden rays. The title track is a deep (sorry) well of mid-’90s sounds, overgrown with some early 2000s flavor – a little bit of a Latin swing dusting the rim like a hint of lime. Bai-ee usually has a dreaminess to his tracks and that’s here too – pyrotechnic flares and waves of synths wash over the groove without burying it. There’s an art to it and Bai-ee has got it down.

The vocal mix is solid but the instrumental really does shine. A remix by Johnny Fiasco slows it down but backs it with exceptional power. This is probably the best record Bai-ee has done – all of the influences of an apprenticeship deep inside the city’s boiler rooms are here, blended to perfection.