Second Place is a collaboration with South London soul singer Kieran about wanting to not lose in love.

A skippy UK Garage beat laced with vocal samples and deep bass forms the backdrop for Kieran's soulful vocals. Dreamy string arrangements come in halfway through the track adding a touch of melancholy as Kieran sings about his endeavours in romance.

The track finishes as Kieran soothingly calls "I don't wanna take second place..." A journey through the shared sound palette of HTCHR and Kieran.

HTCHR X Kieran - Second Place

Bounce Back Instrumental (Preview)

Instrumental (forthcoming collaboration with Ant Lavelle)

Ghost From The Past Instrumental (Preview)

Instrumental (forthcoming collaboration with Eliza Legzdina)

Lippy Instrumental (Preview)

Elephant Riddim Instrumental (Preview)

Forthcoming collaboration with Dream Mclean and Eliza Legzdina

Eliza Legzdina X Dream Mclean - Call My Bluff (Preview)

Sub-Velvet is a love song to a partner who isn't quite sure how to love herself. Ant Lavelle wistfully speaks about the challenging aspects of a relationship that often are hidden beneath the smooth surface- metaphors of carefully treading around the cracks and offering commitment despite being pushed back appear through Ant's verses.

Rapping over 6/8 time, Lavelle's flow is impressive, switching effortlessly between styles that range from straight rapping, singing and spoken word that almost converges on poetry.

The first version of the beat was made by HTCHR during a period of self-isolation with his girlfriend, a time that proved to be challenging as she struggled to rediscover herself after the loss of a family member. Lavelle's words matched the emotive environment from which the music was born perfectly.

Almost all of the instrumentation is played, but then chopped and re-sampled in order to get the Lo-Fi aesthetic. The strings were scored by HTCHR as the final "cherry on the top" for the instrumental, skilfully played by Irina Markevich and the Duos Duet.

Ant Lavelle X HTCHR - Sub-Velvet

HTCHR is the production alias of Alex Hatcher, a musician and multi-instrumentalist based in South East London. Alex's background comes from underground electronic music, however the HTCHR moniker showcases his leftfield Hip Hop / R&B production, often collaborating with vocalists and other artists to present a "left of centre" approach to the typical hip hop sound palette.

Alex also makes music under the alias HTCH for his Techno / dancefloor oriented production.