corto.alto – IJUSTIDONTKNOW
My favourite days are corto.alto release days, and this one’s a big one. “IJUSTIDONTKNOW” is the latest cut from SOME SMALL FORTUNE, Liam Shortall’s album due September 4 on Ninja Tune, and it’s ione of the most anticipated Glasgow record of the year given how strong the run leading up to it has been.
Unlike most of the singles so far, this one doesn’t lean on a guest vocalist. Saxophonist Mateusz Sobieski shows up throughout, playing that raspy, slightly ragged tone that’s become part of the corto.alto signature, and he’s also Shortall’s co-founder at GLITCH41, Glasgow’s live night that’s become a proper scene unto itself. Shortall says this was one of the first songs he wrote for the album, built around heavier guitar riffs than usual sitting next to big hip-hop grooves and electronic textures. “It became an early blueprint for the sound of the record,” he says, and you can hear why. The bass and synth work push forward with the same bold, expansive rhythm that’s carried his stuff for years, but the guitar adds a rougher edge that wasn’t as present before.
Coming after APRIL (W43) with anaiis, WHODIS (W14) with Mick Jenkins, THIEF (W20) and its Jersey club detour, and GO (W26) with Vector, this track was written early, before the record found its other collaborators and detours. It doesn’t chase a single mood so much as hold several at once.
I’ve liked every single from this album so far, and this one might be my favourite for how unshowy it is. No feature to lean on, no genre pivot to sell, just Shortall building something dense and confident out of guitar, sax and rhythm. September 4 can’t come soon enough.
