The thing I love about EP’s is that they’re the perfect length to introduce an audience to your music. You can get in and get out in only a few songs, without overstaying your welcome. With that in mind, when I heard that I was going to review the new Peter Project Fresh Soap EP, I got pretty jazzed. With an LP and countless remixes— including Woodhands and The Meligrove Band— already under his belt, Peter has solidified himself as one of Canada’s best producers.
Fresh Soap opens with an intro comprised of a pretty sweet 8-bit-sounding beat over samples of street interviews regarding personal hygiene. Hygiene as a musical concept (especially in hip-hop) isn’t a totally fresh one, but it’s nice to see Peter’s commitment to the theme by releasing the album as a download code encased in a handmade bar of soap.
The first song to feature vocals is “Unorthodox feat. More or Les”. I was introduced to More or Les through the terrific Herbaliser track “Game set and Match”. Here— as usual— he rips it up over Peter’s terrific beat. It’s one of those gems that will have a spot on many a mixtape to come over the years.
On “In Retail” we get three more guest spots from Wordburglar, Masia One and Maylee Todd. Like the aforementioned song, all the emcees perform at the top of their game as it segues perfectly from the banging hip-hop beat into a sultry acoustic chorus. I’ve seen Wordburglar live a handful of times with Peter Project, so the sound really clicks when he pops up on the track.
At about 18 minutes in length, Fresh Soap breezes by. While the two hip-hop songs on the EP are killer and the instrumental tracks showcase Peter’s immense talent as a producer, I can’t help but admit that I probably won’t be coming back to this EP over and over. Each song on its own feels best suited for a playlist or mixtape. Hopefully listeners will take this album as a sign that they need to check out Peter Project live. The quality of the tracks themselves, though, are excellent and for that I have to recommend the album as a whole — then you can go ahead and cross “soap” off your shopping list.
