Recording artiste Mortimer collaborated with fellow reggae stars Kabaka Pyramid and Lila Iké on the track Bruises, which is the fifth track to be released from his upcoming debut album From Within.

“They are excellent, super-talented artistes, two of whom I have, over the years, said I would love to be on a record with. I love all that they stand for and what their music stands for, too. It was really seamless; I’m talking about the flow of everything — how it all went. It was super cool working with that,” Mortimer told the Jamaica Observer.

Bruises — a joint collaboration between Mortimer and Winta James — was released on August 23. The full track album is slated for a September 20 release. It also features a collaboration with Damian “Jr Gong” Marley.

The album’s physical pre-order includes a special limited-edition coloured vinyl version of the album with three exclusive dubs mixed by Tippy I Grade of Zion I Kings, along with an exclusive shirt design.

Meanwhile, Mortimer said that he has been receiving a lot of positive feedback for
Bruises, which is hopefully a sign of the support he will receive for the album.

“So far, so good, you know? I really give thanks to everybody who chooses to tune in to the music that we make and just to see it for what it is as our hearts’ uttering, you know what I mean? The reception has been good so far and I really appreciate that,” he said.

Born in Kingston, but raised in the rural district of Whitehall, St Elizabeth, like most Jamaicans, Mortimer began his musical journey in the church — and for him it was the Seventh-day Adventist Church where he began singing on the choir at age eight.

Mortimer had dreams of becoming a soldier or an auto engineer, but these aspirations soon took a back seat to music. He released his first project, Message Music, in 2014. An introduction to Jamaican recording artiste Protoje resulted in the recording of the collaboration Protection, produced by Winta James.

Mortimer added that the timing of his first album was divinely orchestrated.

“I didn’t decide that. Time decided that, because guess what, this album was supposed to come out about three years ago. We just finally got everything sorted out. We were waiting on some stuff to come through and we finally got to a place where we felt like it was ready,” he said.