The Forces drop debut EP

Amsterdam-based band The Forces is the new music project formed around psychedelic soul producer Joshua Boon. Hailing from a small town in The Netherlands, Boon was first infatuated with music at the age of ten when he became inspired after discovering hip hop artists such as Public Enemy, NWA, and LL Cool J.

Dreaming of owning a sampler and two turntables, the young artist had to make do with the old family piano and his father’s tape decks which he used to record and loop music with. Exploring the roots of hip hop music led him to discover more genres and influences from soul to funk and from jazz to psychedelic.

With The Forces, he uses the project to share his unique creative vision, as the artist explains, “I’ve always wanted to make something Beatles-esque. To me, their open outlook on all kinds of music, instruments, and experiments with song structures is in line with the crate-digging attitude of hip-hop producers like Q-Tip or Madlib. Like The Beatles, I want to make strong songs that would hold up when performed only on guitar.”

Unveiling The Forces to the world earlier this year, the outfit shared two singles with debut track “Anne” swiftly followed by “Shine”. Now they bring us their debut eponymous EP, featuring the two lead singles, alongside three additional track in “They”, “Free” and “End”, released via the Amsterdam imprint Rucksack Records.

Blending two contrasting influences with hip hop focused contexts wrapping up the structures and outlooks of the flower power hippie-era vibe, with The Forces EP the band splices the two counter-cultures together, making a cohesive and wildly original body of work. “All productions on this EP are hip-hop-minded: in the vein of diggers who have their own ‘open outlook’ through records,” Boon shares.

Listen to The Forces below