Vibe Check - Silas Short "My Conversation"
His guitar-driven heritage and cross-cultural sonic journey from Milwaukee to Jamaica has quietly positioned him among neo-soul's most authentic voices in 2025.
- Staff Writer
Drifting through the musical landscape of Chicago, we find Silas Shorts—a soul caught between worlds, carrying the guitar rhythms of his father's lineage while carving his own path. This mixed-race artist has found a home among kindred spirits at Stone Throw records, that sanctuary of sound nurturing the likes of J Dilla, Sofie, and Kiefer.
His journey? Well, it's been something of a wandering meditation—from Milwaukee to Illinois, with an unexpected but fateful sonic detour to Kingston, Jamaica.
His take on the Uniques' 1968 lovers rock classic "My Conversation" found its way into "Real Pain" soundtrack, and eventually floated across Jamaican airwaves courtesy of UnityXM's DJ Yagga.
Such is the way music travels—unpredictable currents carrying notes to shores never imagined.
Silas seems to be one of those rare ones—winning in the quiet spaces, letting the music speak while the world catches up at its own pace.
No flashy headlines or viral moments, just steady creation and patient evolution. His guitar work speaks of generations before him, fingers carrying inherited memories across strings, while his voice charts new territories.
Chicago has long been a crucible for musical innovation—the blues flowing into jazz, house music pulsing from basement clubs, hip hop reinventing itself on street corners. Now Silas adds his chapter to this ongoing story, blending influences with the casual confidence of someone who knows music isn't just something you make, but something you live.
Now he has offered us "Guy"—a smouldering neo-soul piece that settles into your consciousness like an evening toke, tender on both the heart and mind.
The track isn't trying to grab you; instead, it creates a space for you to enter willingly, to sit with emotions that feel both personal to Silas and somehow universal.That's the mark of an artist who understands that the most profound connections happen in the spaces between notes, in the pauses between phrases.
Stone Throw's embrace of Silas places him in a lineage of boundary-pushing artists who value authenticity over trends.
In a music industry often chasing the next viral sound, Silas and his label seem content to let the work mature naturally, like good bourbon or a well-worn leather jacket—getting better, more complex, and more interesting with time.
