DANCEHALL STAR, producer, and all-around Jamaican music legend Demarco will release his debut album Melody, later this year through California’s Ineffable Records.
These songs are timeless music. When you sing about love and relationships — the real things that people go through — there’s no time limit on that.
Demarco
A project more than a decade in the making, Melody launches today with the release of “Mover” featuring fellow Jamaican star and labelmate Konshens.
The track’s official video, directed by Demarco, also dropped last week, starring Demarco and Konshens as competing coaches of women’s football (soccer) teams.
Guest features on Melody include Sean Paul, Shaggy, Sarkodie, Stephen Marley and Ky-mani Marley, with Demarco handling production on all but four tracks. Beatmaker Will K. produced “Mover,” which finds Demarco and Konshens blending Spanglish and Jamaican patois lyrics over a flute-driven fusion of dancehall and urbano sounds.
Melody, the title of which is inspired by both Demarco’s newborn daughter and the melodic sensibilities that define the album, arrives more than ten years after Demarco first burst onto the dancehall circuit with his breakthrough single, “Fallen Soldiers.”
The somber, reflective 2007 track kicked off an iconic run of dancehall classics from Demarco including “Duppy Know Who Fi Frighten,” “She Can’t Wait,” and the Rihanna-endorsed “I Love My Life” and “Puppy Tail.”
Beyond the genre, Demarco has teamed with Akon and Runtown on the cross-continental afrobeats smash “No Wahala,” collaborated with Busta Rhymes, Giggs and Jim Jones, and is widely reported to be among the songwriters on Rihanna’s long-rumored dancehall album.
Behind the scenes, he’s produced some of modern dancehall’s iconic riddims — a form of instrumental beat used by reggae producers to record multiple singles, each by different vocalists— as well as Charly Black’s “Gyal You a Party Animal,” the most recent dancehall track to be certified Gold by the RIAA, and the first ever song by a Jamaican artist to be certified Diamond in Latin America.
Demarco is the latest Caribbean music star to partner with Ineffable Records, joining Konshens, Kes and Turbulence among acts releasing albums through the imprint.
Launched in 2019, Ineffable Records is the label arm of Ineffable Music Group, a multifaceted, Oakland-based music company which owns and operates venues and festivals across the USA and manages and releases music from artists like Stick Figure and Collie Buddz.
“Demarco is your favorite artist’s favorite artist,” says Ineffable Music Group co-founder Igor Katz. “He is responsible for helping create some of the biggest dancehall records of all time for others, and we feel like it’s time to spotlight his music on an album.“
With a track record as deep as Demarco’s, it’s hard to believe that he’s never issued an album before. But he believes when fans hear the project, they will find it was well worth the wait.
“A lot of people don’t know this side of Demarco,” he says of the album’s melodic leanings.
“These songs are timeless music. When you sing about love and relationships — the real things that people go through — there’s no time limit on that.”
Adam Gross, Ineffable Records vice president, adds: “Our whole ethos is built around working with artists to achieve their vision in a way that will allow them to keep their independence and monetize their music forever.
“Demarco is the perfect embodiment of the type of artist we want to work with, an absolute legend who deserves an album rolled out the right way.”
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