Cleveland producer + multi-instrumentalist Sound On Tape releases debut album

Producer and multi-instrumentalist, Sound On Tape, explores garage, jazz, and RnB on debut album “Price”.

The storied cultural history of the United States remains a potent influence on art and music, a theme that Cleveland-native Sound On Tape explores on his debut album “Price”. Raised in Cleveland – a city famous for rock’n’roll and jazz – Marcus Alan Ward is a self-described child of the underground; a musician as much as he is a DJ or producer, his work is steeped in storytelling, with “Price” exploring themes of Black American culture, identity, and also religion.

“With “Price” I kept authenticity in mind in every aspect. The sound field recordings you hear are authentically Cleveland, the subject matter is authentic to my Black experience, and the narration is an authentic conversation: they’re not skits. I’d finish a song then Sted would come over and we’d crack a bottle of champagne and just discuss the Black experience in America. That’s what you’re hearing on the album in real time. Musically it goes beyond the genre confines of Garage with touches of Jazz, RnB, and House. I’m proud to present a concept album in a genre that today is dominated by singles.” – Sound On Tape

“Price” is an artist album that is rooted in the analogue, the tangible, and the imperfect; Sound On Tape commits to the ideology that texture is an instrument, one that works alongside his studies of classical jazz, electronic synthesisers, and the conscious decision to make the piano the primary instrument for developing ideas and leading production. These juxtaposing genres and instruments are the paint, and UK garage is his canvas – a genre that allows Marcus to merge tradition with the future.

It’s this nonconformist foundation that enables Sound On Tape to amplify the production details, creating a sonic balance that is as much at home on the dance floor as it is when experienced in private. The album is a deeply personal outlet for Marcus to discuss the rarely acknowledged shift: Black people, once commodified as products, are now the buyers.

Under this thematic umbrella, the fusion of jazz, garage, and RnB makes perfect sense – a combination that feels natural and original when delivered in the rough, textured production style employed by Sound On Tape. The concept of Hush Harbors – a secret refuge where enslaved people once gathered to practice religion – serves as a spiritual backbone to “Price”. Through his music and interspersed narration by Cleveland rapper Sted Lee, Marcus poses the question: as the role of religion in Black communities declines, where do we find sanctuary today? Can music serve as a modern-day Hush Harbor?

Across eleven tracks, “Price” is a powerful debut – from the uplifting house-inspired sounds of “If You’re Free (Say So)” to the intricate production on “Gods Don’t Die”, the two-step drums of “Hush Harbors” and Marcus’ own interpretation on classic genre tracks “Gabriel” and “Inner City Life”, the intention is clear. Pushing a genre forward requires the interjection of outside influences, and whilst Sound On Tape, sonically, sits comfortably alongside contemporaries like Burial, El-B, and Sticky, as much as jazz icons Bill Evans and John Coltrane, “Price” has intent to be something different.

It’s a raw dissection of Black culture, expertly told by an emerging artist.

Sound On Tape – “Price” is out now via 904L World Class Sound.