Funk Overload: Winston Surfshirt & Genesis Owusu Link Up For Soulful ‘There’s Only One’
Smooth as butter.
Music
February 17, 2022

Image via Jordan Munns //

Following years of indoctrinating the Aussie music scene to their respective brands of funk and soul, it seemed virtually inevitable that Winston Surfshirt and Genesis Owusu would one day collab…

And that day has finally come, Winston tapping the Ghanian-born MC for their hybrid-rap and disco collab ‘There’s Only One’.

The new slow-burn sees the Sydney mainstays mesh the hallmarks of their respective sounds for a melting pot of groove, Winston’s easy-going melodics colliding against Genesis’ multi-dimensional R&B and rap sensibilities. Production-wise however this track definitely harkens back to Winston’s 2017 album Sponge Cake, the laid back instrumentation and easy-going execution reminiscent of early bops like ‘Be About You’ and ‘For Real’.

The accompanying visualiser for the collab matches the vibrancy of the sonics, the harbour-side single artwork coming alive as an animated Genesis and Winston watch the swells of Darling Harbour pass then by. For what’s a pretty straightforward visualiser, it manages to enhance the overall-immersion of the track by tenfold, so much so that by the end I felt like I was right there, kicking it alongside the two funk lords.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj3vlg2-I_o

Speaking on linking up with the recent ARIA ‘Album of the Year’ winner, Winston explains, “For a feature our first thought was Genesis, we’ve known him for a while now and always wanted to work with him. The timing was right, so we sent him the tune and he sent a verse and bridge back a day later. No need for any changes, it was perfection.”

The pair have clearly found a nice mid-point between their funk-infused sounds. Personally I’m just hoping they link up for a collab EP or album down the road. But for now, ‘There’s Only One’ is more than enough to tide us over. Be sure to watch the full visualiser above and buy/stream it here.

 

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