Red King’s The Dark Before is the Glasgow EP You Need to Hear Right Now

EP REVIEW | RED KING – THE DARK BEFORE by Bryden Churchmichael

“This is a security announcement. Please keep your belongings on you at all times and report anything suspicious to staff.”

That voice plays over something almost playful. A synth loop, circular and bright, the kind that pulls you in before you’ve clocked what’s underneath it. No heavy bass. No obvious menace. Just repetition, steady and hypnotic, until the city’s automated voice and the production become the same thing.

That’s how ‘CLOCKWORK ORANGE’ opens. That’s what The Dark Before is built from.
Tommy Dey, Dundee-born, Glasgow-based, releasing music as Red King for the best part of a decade – has been building something. The second instalment in a planned trilogy, following 2023’s For the Night, this is darker and more restless than anything he’s put out before. Dark and synthy, greyscale until it isn’t. Each track breaking through with its own colour.

‘CLOCKWORK ORANGE’ sets the tone. Inspired by a hellish Glasgow subway commute, the proximity of strangers, the repetition, the daydreaming, it’s brooding synth-hip-hop, going round and round until it becomes hypnotic. Award-winning videographer Peter Lilly captures it visually. Grey platforms, grey carriages, nowhere to be that you haven’t already been.

‘SLEEPLESS’ shifts the energy. Punchy, dark-garage, Chrissy Grimez and Lynx cutting through with sharp wordplay. It explores the consequences of too many nights on the sesh, sharp enough to sting, funny enough that you don’t notice until after. Then comes the tower block at 3am. A few windows lit. A vintage sleep advert playing underneath. 100% safe, no narcotics. The city selling you relief from the damage it already caused.

‘PETALS’ is where it turns. Red surrounded by grey. Roses falling on a coffin. It came from a string of gigs that left Dey ready to quit, until a trip to Marseille changed his whole perspective. The fear that your flowers arrive too late, and the praise, the recognition, the credit all come after you’re no longer here to receive them. The fear made into music. The one that doesn’t leave.

The project was built between Dey and grime producer Rapture 4D, who set up a recording studio together in a converted shipping container in Glasgow’s East End back in 2022. Big synths and neogrime meeting introspective lyricism and flow. Mixed and mastered at Nightvision Studios. 7187, pogxo, Sapjer each bringing their own texture. Remixes from Scottish producers Casement and Hostage. Artwork from painter/illustrator oZombieo. Brutalist, architectural, uncompromising. Sounds as good in a club as it does at 3am with headphones on.

Red King has been making waves in Scotland’s underground for years, supporting Casisdead, Manga Saint Hilare and Mic Righteous, with features in The Scotsman, Wordplay Magazine and the BBC. This isn’t a breakthrough moment. It’s a statement from someone who’s been doing the work and never once asked for permission to do it differently. For anyone coming up in the scene watching how things move, this is what it looks like when you back yourself. When you make something nobody asked for and it turns out that’s exactly what was needed.

The subway doors close. The announcement plays again. Keep your belongings on you. Report anything suspicious.

Red King already did.

The Dark Before by Red King is OUT NOW.