A debut EP usually puts out what influences an artist had before they present what the artist is. Fantasizer does that in a different way. With four producers contributing to its four tracks the project doesn’t fall into a battle of creative voices. Instead it comes off very put together as if all the contributors came in with the same idea of who SHON is before the first note was played.

That is a hard thing to pull off.

Multi producer projects can easy become a collection of individual ideas which take the listener in different directions. Fantasizer gets away from that. London, Ozedekus, Thatsanedude and Yendrik all bring in their own flavors to the record but none of them go in to dominate it. The production is for the most part in service of the songs before it is the producer.

There is confidence in that decision.

Oh Baby introduces SHON through movement but not in a rush. Runaway broadens the emotional scope without leaving the intimate setting set at the start of the project. Love and Affection goes for quiet over dramatic release and Calculate ends the EP with a sense of purpose that is more about direction then spectacle. The songs may change in texture but they seem to be in the same conversation.

What ties them is trust.

Each producer gives space for SHON’s voice to carry the emotional core of the record. That may sound like a small thing but in today’s Afrobeats which rewards production that takes the stage, Fantasizer goes in the other direction. Its arrangements are not out to impress which in turn allows the melodies, phrasing and silence to become part of the story.

Maybe that is why the EP comes off so cohesive.

Rather then use collaboration as a chance to show range Fantasizer uses it as an exercise in consistency. London brings in polish without over doing it. Ozedekus adds atmosphere without losing steam. Love and Affection from Thatsanedude and Yendrik is warm and patient and Thatsanedude’s solo work on Calculate does a great job of ending things off with a preference for clarity over complexity. Each contribution is individual but none breaks the character of the whole.

Of course there is room for SHON to stand out more. At times the project’s focus on the subtle means it falls short of a truly defining moment which immediately announces itself as uniquely his. But that is less a flaw then the question every promising debut leaves unanswered.

What you take away from Fantasizer is not that it has four producers or even four songs. It is that it introduces an artist who already knows the value of cohesiveness. For a first project that may be its best statement.