Artist Mixtapes - Frankie Stew And Harvey Gunn

From playing at house parties together 10 years ago, to 2 million streams on their latest album Breathing Exercises, Brighton-based duo Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn are climbing the UK hip hop/rap scene one song at a time. Friends before making music together, these two effortlessly create a unique and distinctive sound. With hints of garage, hip hop and rap filtering into their work, Breathing Exercises provides a layered and in depth listening experience, that hasn't quite been done before. Features by the likes of Loyle Carner, Manga Saint Hilare, Isaac Waddington, Joel Baker and Ashley Henry, this is definitely one to stick on for a long drive or during the lockdown.

Every lyric and beat produced by this duo comes from a place of first hand, real-life experience. They somehow manage to cover every part of generation Y-Z life. Whether that be heartbreak, anxiety or just everyday life scenarios. Their sound is smooth, suave and captivating, something that isn't often delivered these days. A personal favourite is Fabric. We’ve all been drunk in a club, thinking about life and Fabric captures this perfectly. To put it quite simply, listening to their music feels like you’re in a dream or running through a field, a really big, beautiful, fantastic field.

Harvey told Papersessions, back in February, “I want the sound to be, even if it's quite hard to define the genre, quite a UK or a British Sound. [...] We’re just trying to have quite a unique sound”. This is certainly achieved in all the songs. Their creative process isn't textbook. The boys told Gaffer Magazine, last July, that “the beat comes first most of the time.” Frankie went on to explain “I like to think of the occasional lyric on the train or something and write it down on my phone, but apart from that I much prefer to write to the music.”