Elijah Mc

Elijah MC is a unique talent who creates dubwise tracks using just the sound of his own voice. Using live vocal loop samples, he builds a track from the ground up – layering beats, basslines, backing vocals and FX on top of each other, and then adding his sweet golden singing voice or reggae-style chat.

He started off as a singer-songwriter in bands, playing various gigs and festivals, but has recently begun to work solo to build conscious dubwise tracks from start to finish. Elijah MC has been greatly influenced by the great goofy entertainer Beardyman in the way he uses live vocal loop samples, although he uses his beatboxing skills as a basis for his reggae-influenced songs. He’s also recently been working with incredible Brighton-based scratch DJ JFB – a long-time collaborator with Beardyman – and JFB remixed his track ‘Roughneck’ for release on Sludge Records.

So what exactly does he do when creating a track? “The track is built by beat-boxing through an effects pedal and looping that beat. The reason I use effects for the beat is to give the sound a much more punchier, crisp sound. Also I find using a little reverb and delay adds some dimension to the sound.

“I then add harmonies over the top of the beat. This builds a chord progression ‘feel’ and gives the track its atmosphere. Different tracks require different effects, depending on the desired result. The effects pedal I use has a huge range of sounds, allowing me to produce any style and sound I wish. This has ultimate freedom when performing live and also when writing tracks.

“The bassline is another layer which is added, again vocally through the effects pedal. I generally use a bass synthesiser and pitch shifter, dropped an octave to create a deep and rich bass sound. I again have ultimate freedom to modify the sounds to create any style to suit any track. Then I’m free to chat my lyrics over the top."