Like a beloved auteur filmmaker, Brooklyn-based URIEL J. WINFREE lll is a singer/songwriter and vocalist/performer whose passion for the art of song inspires on both a universal and personal level. His lyrics are intimate but not oblique; his delivery both compelling and completely relatable for any true listener. His passion for producing high quality cinematic sound vignettes extends from his music to being a tattoo artist and actor, both of these prominently on display in the darkly humorous short film that accompanies the music from his powerful new release KASTLEFACE.
Chopping up and weaving the eclectic and esoteric with the urban every day, his tracks are an eclectic mix of everything exemplary in genres from art-pop to hip-hop, rap to soul, R&B and Indie Rock. Using subtly penetrating tempos, lush but street level production, and ingenious viewpoints to deliver his musical ideas, his audacious and tender lyrical imagery evokes Noir elements of style beyond any genre.
The origin of KASTLEFACE came from when Winfree decided to get a tattoo of an upside down Kastle on his forehead, done by fellow tattoo artist Becki Wilson. “It took a lot of thought to get this,” he says, “and represents a symbol of knowledge dripping from my restless mind.” Winfree explains that the mind is the kingdom and your thoughts and creativity represent the drip descending. “This is just me drippin’ my art on the universe, putting things from my mind into existence.”
All production was made for the seven-song release in New York, and the music and the accompanying film are the first projects that are not singles for Winfree. The album is made up of self-produced tracks, including the epic and mesmerizing “Killer For My Love,” and the attention-snatching opener “Symptoms”; with Kemal Akbas producing “Consequences” and “Motives.” All were mixed and mastered by Mario Garcia (Camden Records), with cover art by RADskillZ out of Miami.
The overall theme of KASTLEFACE involves processing trauma from the world we all have to endure. Of some of the album’s individual highlights, Winfree says that “Killer For My Love” “is so much different than the others, it feels as if MGMT had a baby with Anderson .Paak.”
KASTLEFACE rewards repeated listening and showcases his flexible, unassailable vocals, displaying narrative experience through unique arrangements delivered through the vigorous collaborative production. “My workflow was organized by a few isolated situations in my life that I was in retrospect was just venting about the best way I know how,” Winfree says. “It felt like I had tapped into the deeper side of my feelings, instead of my previous angsty work with ROCH. We need more love and awareness of what’s going on inside of us.”
In this struggle to find a new way of expression “I was able to capture my experiences through sound and write a storyboard to help digest the songs through a short film and graphic comic book.” That became the gripping filmed psychodrama of his new songs being released as video from the music found on KASTLEFACE.
Directed by Meli G. and filmed in Miami, KASTLEFACE is a homage to Tarantino gems like True Romantic, Reservoir Dogs, Four Rooms, and Kill Bill. “I casted Sherelle Lewis and Roderick Harris, Jr. to help bring the story to life,” Winfree enthuses, proud of their work. “It contains all the new music and matches the story of these songs” while displaying Winfree’s grace and ease as an actor, as well as his skills as a tattoo artist. Twists and turns happen again and again till the very end. An aspect of which makes both the music on the new release and its cinematic twin irresistible to those experiencing it.