Darren Ashley, Electro Pop Jazz Cat

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in News
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Life after a reality show is an elusive thing for its participants, you either become a relatively relevant pop star or fade into obscurity. And we’re talking about the winners here when we say fade into obscurity – imagine what it’s like for the runner-ups and those terminated even earlier. Darren Ashley, formerly of One in a Million and currently drummer of Busco, takes the uncharted reality show route of evolving into something else altogether.

We’re not sure which one of the wide range of genres represented on his Soundcloud page is representative of his true musical inclination. Regardless, the genre smorgasbord that is his music proves that this cat is helluva talented and not limited to the limitations of genre identification.

To better understand what we mean, just take a peep at these two tracks;

If I Don’t Stay by Darren Ashley

The anodyne ‘If I Don’t Stay’ works like the best of electro pop tunes do, emotionally soothing and immediately danceable by the minute the chorus kicks in.

Weather Endeavors by Darren Ashley

‘Weather Endeavors’ on the other hand is the polar opposite of the previous track, a jazzy Frank Sinatra-esque ode to love that you’d hear at No Black Tie as opposed to the former’s Laundry.

Darren is everything from 80s throwback man to jazz crooner to acoustic singer songwriter. You’d think doing too many things at once would lessen the consistency in quality but we personally think his music works in any of those incarnations (well maybe not when he’s doing vocal percussion with his average beatboxing skills). Darren is one in a million, even if 8tv didn’t agree.

Listen to more of Darren Ashley on his Soundcloud page here.