Defcee & steel tipped dove's 'We Will Be Brief' Is Twenty-Seven Minutes With Zero Slack In It
We Will Be Brief has been a long time coming for a record that’s over in less than half an hour. steel tipped dove sent beat packs; Defcee picked; then, by the duo’s own account on Bandcamp, the songs “languished as the two branched into their own individual and collaborative pursuits” before they finally reunited in Brooklyn in the early spring of 2024. Out now on dove’s own Fused Arrow Records, it sounds like exactly what it is: two people who’ve been circling this for years and knew precisely what to do when they landed.
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: dove produces the whole thing, and the low end is deliberately unsteady — kicks that arrive slightly off the grid, sub tones that drop out mid-bar. Stereogum’s Tom Breihan called it “skronky production,” which is about right; the beats lurch on purpose, and Defcee rides the lurch instead of smoothing it over.
The Spatial Dynamics: Nothing here is centered and glossy. Samples sit at the edges, drums push forward, and the vocals are mixed close enough that you catch breath and consonants. The Bandcamp notes describe beats that blend “beauty and brutality seamlessly,” and the mix refuses to resolve that tension in either direction.
Standout Performance
Defcee’s writing. Breihan singled out “Tom Waits Type Beat” and its centerpiece line — “We used to rhyme like Tom Waits over David Banner beats / Look at where it landed me” — and Shatter the Standards, which rated it four stars, put it plainly: “every line of it is exact.”
Why It’s Certified
“Ahem” and “Heat Check” are the pure-technique showcases. “Healing Rituals” gives Nappy Nina room. “Science Project Pat” turns Fatboi Sharif and 89 the Brainchild loose. “A Little About A Lot” puts SKECH185 and billy woods on the same track and somehow still belongs to Defcee. Twelve songs, twenty-seven minutes, an incomparable duo doing exactly what the title says. Certified great.