‘You (On Love)’ is the newest release by Apex Zero, as he continues to develop his living visual album ‘Drummer Warrior Storyteller’, following up the last single ‘Seventh Dimension (On Perspective)’. Made with brilliant, multidisciplinary artists, the album (so far) consists of films, paintings, metalwork, photography, costume design, drum circles, immersive theatre productions and more.

‘You (On Love)’, produced by legendary UK Hip Hop beatmaker Micall Parknsun, is both an open letter to Apex’s wife, family, Ancestors, The Most High and all he loves, as well as an expression of his perspective of what love is, in all its multidimensional, multilayered forms. For this reason, the lyrics can be interpreted in many ways, with audiences at live performances already offering different understandings of it. The soulful instrumental gives a beautiful base for Apex’s heartfelt lyrical poetry, giving a real connection to the deep emotions that have been sunk into the track.

As with all releases from ‘Drummer Warrior Storyteller’, the creativity extends beyond the music. Apex worked with three visionary African Caribbean women to create a film, photographs and a metal sculpture that capture and expand the message of the track. Photographer and filmmaker Ekua McMorris laid the foundation with her longstanding practice working with the family photographs of Caribbean families. Her work inspired Apex to interview his parents and mine the family photo albums and home videos for gems of insight about their family history.

This process and the resulting conversations led pioneering Metalsmith Roxanne Simone to forge ‘Harvest Rebellion’, a steel sculpture inspired by the cutlass (sometimes called machete), a symbol of the subjugation then liberation of African Caribbean people. Roxanne and Apex have roots in the English midlands; their families have connections to the coal and iron that would have been used to make the cutlasses (and chains) used in the Caribbean. The group travelled to Sheffield to work at the forge of Gregory and Tesseras Blacksmiths, where filmmaker Alicia Warner expertly captured the forging process, demonstrating the strength, knowledge and skill needed to mould metal into new forms. ‘Harvest Rebellion’ will eventually have the lyrics of ‘You (On Love)’ etched onto it, showing the skill level that Roxanne operates at.

Alicia beautifully mixes the footage from the forge with imagery of Apex and his wife, feminist sociolinguist Dr Whitney Nikita Francois-Cull, exploring family photos and artefacts, returning full-circle to Ekua’s original idea.

'Drummer Warrior Storyteller (Part Two)' will be released May 19th 2023 as the second film and EP in the series, alongside more exhibitions, screenings and live performances. The other tracks on the EP are ‘Seventh Dimension (On Perspective)’ featuring master Kora player and Griot Moussa Dembele and ‘Live Life (On Livity)’, again produced by Micall Parknsun featuring Ghanaian songstress Elia-Naa. As well as those people and places mentioned above, the film was made with visionary filmmakers Chiba Visuals and Slim Yearwood and contains footage from Barbados, Peru, Venezuela, Uganda and London. The film features cultural polymath Muti ‘Mutivation’ Musafiri, Ugandan traditional drummers Nilotika Cultural Ensemble and footage from Break Fast Jam 2018 and Afri-cans Street Art Fest 2018.

‘You (On Love)’ will be released on May 5th 2023 on all streaming platforms, followed by the ‘Drummer Warrior Storyteller (Part Two)’ on May 19th 2023. All visuals will be released on Apex’s new official artist channel.