You may recognise him as Game of Thrones’ Grey Worm, but Jacob Anderson has a budding music career off-screen. His latest release as Raleigh Ritchie, the Black and Blue EP, has been remixed in its entirety by Syd Tha Kid and Matt Martian (a.k.a. The Internet) of Odd Future, and The Chased is a new addition.
The song drifts into a daydream, complete with beautifully warped drones that wrap around Anderson’s voice. The song is sparse but victoriously so. Anderson’s dreamy vocals are the centre of attention and hypnotising enough that the space and texture is justified, but irrelevant anyway. The Internet’s trademark trip-hop beats are immediately obvious and counteract the trippiness by giving the song pace.
Anderson is a vivid storyteller – he weaves an endearing fantasy of packing up and running away (being told to steal your mum’s money has never sounded so romantic) – which makes you wonder whether his talent as an actor informs his music or vice versa. Although you get the impression the fantasy will never translate into reality, he makes it sound like an appealing distraction.
The whole EP, Black and Blue Point Two is available to download for free from his website.
