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The Music of SiR

Twenty-one tracks from a singer who spent years engineering other people's records before anyone heard his own — and it shows in every mix.

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SiR

Sir Darryl Farris came into the business through the back door. He worked as an engineer and a background vocalist, wrote for other artists, and only stepped forward as a solo act in his thirties, by which point he had a technical command of the studio that most singers never acquire.

That history explains what his records sound like. They are unusually well balanced, with real attention to the low end and to how much space a vocal actually needs, and they are patient in a way that suggests someone who has spent a long time listening to other people's sessions and forming opinions.

His brother is D Smoke, the rapper and teacher who won the first season of Rhythm + Flow — which makes for one of the more remarkable family records in contemporary music.

What to listen for

"John Redcorn" is the one to hear first: a song built around a King of the Hill reference that turns out to be a genuinely sad account of an affair, and it is far better written than the premise suggests.

"Hair Down" with Kendrick Lamar is the biggest record here and the best example of the Top Dawg house style — jazz chords, hard drums, nobody rushing.

"The Recipe" and "Still Blue" with Jill Scott are the two where the singing is most exposed, and he holds up next to her, which is not a small thing.

"New Sky" with Kadhja Bonet is the prettiest arrangement, and "Ooh Nah Nah" with Masego is the loosest.

"D'Evils" aside, "Nothing Even Matters" and "You Can't Save Me" are the album cuts that reward attention, and "He Deserves Your Love" is the best song he has written.

"POETRY IN MOTION" and "TRYIN' MY HARDEST" come from the later material, where the production has grown warmer and the writing more direct.

Go deeper

November (2018) is the album to start with; Chasing Summer (2019) is the more ambitious one and HEAVY (2024) the most personal.

The Top Dawg Entertainment roster as a whole is worth working through — Isaiah Rashad, Zacari and Kendrick Lamar — and D Smoke's Black Habits is the family companion piece.

Listening note: the engineering background shows in the space. SiR's records leave a great deal of room around the vocal and put real weight in the bottom, which means they reward good playback and sound thin through a phone. It is the difference between a singer who hires a mixer and one who used to be the mixer.

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