Music made by an anonymous, mysterious phantom is always interesting but there isn’t much information available about 2econd Class Citizen who’s emergence on the scene has created a buzz of anticipation from a diverse collection of music circles.

2econd Class Citizen (Aaron Thomason) hails from Huddersfield, England and makes music that he simply calls "Wyred Folk”: a hybrid of electronically produced folk combined with instrumental Hip Hop. So far, his only release has been a 12" EP called "Divided Reality" – a private press record that didn’t reveal much about him, except a simple list of songs and an email address on the label. With this lack of information, all we have left is his music, but thankfully, this music has stories to tell.

Swinging between melancholy and pure anger, strong guitar riffs mined from old psych rock records and the weeping voices lifted from old folk music, 2econd Class Citizen seems to find his real home in a crate of old and dusty vinyl. There is a beat but this is not Hip Hop – at least not as we know it. Yes, there are guitars, but this isn’t folk music anymore. An anonymous voice sings of being lonely within a hundred other voices and there is this music with a new sound, yet, somehow, it is still the old sound — the old loneliness. It is just that now we are listening to it again, for the first time – and we want to listen.

2econd Class Citizen sees himself as an arranger or conductor standing in front of an orchestra of forgotten records, waiting for their time to be played. His music is made up of layer upon layer of beats and samples that become more and more complex as the song progresses, finally ending in a crescendo of sound. Perhaps the music may not have enough bass for the "heads" and may not have enough noise for the "purists", but who really cares when the result will catch the aware listener’s ear like no other record has in a long time. After all, here are the accents. Here is the feeling that Hip Hop may have lost. But Aaron himself wouldn’t dare to say these things so loudly.

The fantastic 6-track EP "Wyred Folk" has now been released on Equinox Records from Berlin. 2econd Class Citizen is also working on an album to be released in late 2007. A live set is under development that aims to recreate the complexity and depth of orchestration he has become known for, whilst bringing in musicians and using live sound editing software to keep a strong improvisational aspect.