SIMON WHITE AND THE POSTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS OF RHYTHM INC.
by Jody Jenkins
Simon White grew up in an Ethiopian Zion Coptic world with a father who spent years living in Jamaica, immersed in the deep culture of rasta and reggae and the idea that each person embodies an element of the divine. His father brought that philosophy home with him to roam the clubs of Western Mass, playing in bands like Loose Caboose. And over the years, Simon’s deeper understanding of life evolved around elements of his father’s worldview - reggae and spirituality, music and the greater mystery. At its core, music is the expression of identity and for Simon, reggae was always his authentic spiritual home.
“There’s a message of love and unity and nonviolence that reggae carries with it,” Simon says of the influences that emanate through the music of his band Rhythm Incorporated. “Though you might not be a rasta or have the same beliefs, the music carries a vibe for people who are living conscious or spiritual lifestyles.”
Simon and Jamemurrell Stanley, who grew up playing music together in Wendell, formed the band in 2011. Over time they fused hip hop, funk and reggae as they worked to refine their sound. With two members of the current incarnation owning recording studios, an album was the natural next step and they recently released their EP “Beautiful Day.”
The music carrys a vibe for people who are living conscious or spiritual lifestyles.
As much as any music, reggae evokes lifestyle, something that’s not immediately apparent in Rhythm Incorporated. The band doesn’t show up in rastawear or the trappings of genre, but the one drop, guitar skanks and the themes they explore when they play are immediately familiar. The music bears the social consciousness that brought reggae to the international forefront as well as the gratitude that is elemental to the spirituality of reggae, despite the harsh realities the genre often depicts. The song “Gunshots,” for example, opens with the lines:
Yes my friend
If this world came right to an end
I’ll let love be my guide
Because the spirit it will survive
Yes my friend
If this world came right to an end
I’ll let love be my guide
Because the spirit it will survive
The music stays true to genre and there’s a consistent, upbeat quality to tracks like “Beautiful Day” and the affirmation-despite-the-situation of “Gunshots.” But musically, “The Way It Goes” leaves the deepest impression. While there’s familiar reggae tropes in Simon’s stuttering falsetto vocals, it’s the slick lyrical alliteration and Nico D’Amico’s clean, understated, charging guitar that step out of the box with something fresh and authentic that blurs genre. And that’s where the reggae, rock, hip hop, funk and soul all seem to bleed into one.
Way it goes
That’s all I know
You gotta walk a lion
Never let them tame your soul
Day is cold
Feeling low
In this rough tough world
Never let them tame your soul
Way it goes
That’s all I know
You gotta walk a lion
Never let them tame your soul
Day is cold
Feeling low
In this rough tough world y’all
Reggae and rasta mean different things to different people. For some, they’re the Carribean equivalent to The Grateful Dead phenom, with an easy going, live-and-let-live dope-smoking ethos. “Lambsbread Herb” takes a bow to that heritage, but deep down reggae has always been about much more than that. Where one is ecstatic escapism, the other looks deep into the heart of things and holds them up for others to see. And Rhythm Inc. stays true to that as well.
The spirituality at the heart of rasta and reggae is evident here, but it’s not cloying. They have always put questions of spirituality in the context of the struggles for justice amid daily life, which grounds the music in a way that escapes other forms.
In the end, the music feels organic, illuminating realities that surround us while being careful not to drown in the disillusion it could easily bring. It’s what Simon calls “positive, conscious music,” something we sorely need in today’s America.
Jody Jenkins is a writer and filmmaker living in Northampton. He is the editor of The Collective.
