With a continuation of the inverted A-Side / B-Side format that they unearthed with 2018’s Tell Me / Used to Be, experimental Atlanta duo, The Pheels return with Fiya / Fire. The Pheels are comprised of Curtis Fields & Phil Jones – both producers and vocalists who also work to an extent at solo canons. But together, their work, rooted in the brash juxtaposition between their sounds, is something else entirely when weighed against their independent work, or the work of any other artists in music, for that matter.

Fiya / Fire comes on the heels of their collaborative single with the unparalleled LION BABE, Be Like that, earlier this year. And akin to Be Like That, the new brace of singles oozes of a signature understated coalescence between electronic, futurist R&B, and altogether intangible experimentation pushing the boundaries of mellow, emotive music. Fiya kicks it off as a complicated, layered jam that blurs a few hip-hop adjacent stanzas with a groovy depth of rock and funk fueled intricacy. It’s raw, powerful emotion forcing itself into harmonically fluid composition. Fire follows it up as an electronically rooted bout of R&B born melody. Somewhere between its falsetto, its simplistic chimes, and its complex percussive line, Fire emerges – like Fiya – a compositionally bound exploration of amalgamation occasionally giving way to a few moments of breath and piecemeal focus.

From the illusive Pheels, new music is always a gift wrapped in permanently unexpected waves of musical experimentation. Fiya / Fire fall right in line as the duo continue pushing the creative borders of what any of us have heard before.

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