Iceboy Violet. Photo by Oliver KGH.
Iceboy Violet has stayed relatively quiet since the release of their acclaimed mixtape The Vanity Project in January 2022. Today (June 14), however, the Manchester rapper-producer has announced that project’s follow-up, an eight-track record titled Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion. It’s scheduled to arrive August 3 via Rainy Miller’s Fixed Abode label, and its lead single, “Black Gold,” is streaming now. The new song is a short ride, clocking in at just over 90 seconds of shadowy vocal samples, scattered synth bass, and cryptic bars traded between Iceboy and minimalist U.K. emcee Florence Sinclair.
“Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion is a project about the role desire and fantasy plays in our lives,” Iceboy explains in a press release. “What is considered fake is constantly constructing the world we want to live in and the people we want to be, as we brush up against fantasy, as we feel the everlasting tug of desire, our reality is pressed into shape almost entirely by daydreaming, hallucination, yearning & cum. This is something to be celebrated, harnessed as a force for good internally and externally. Fantasy as map and desire as engine. I love to want; I want to love.”
Watch RAWTAPE’s aqueous visuals for “Black Gold” and check out Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion’s cover art and tracklist below.
Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion cover art
Not A Dream But A Controlled Explosion tracklist
1. Not A Dream (Intro)
2. Street Dogs Have Wings
3. Black Gold (feat. Florence Sinclair)
4. Wounded Coogi
5. Refracted (feat. Orlandor) / (Lizala Vi)
6. Ekklipse
7. Paris, Bradford
8. Pablos Cathedral
