New Music – Morcheeba – Blaze Away LP

Back with their ninth album entitled ‘Blaze Away’ its been a long journey for Morcheeba from their humble beginnings back in the mid 90’s when they started out as a three-piece ensemble consisting of producers Ross Godfrey, Paul Godfrey and vocalist Skye Edwards. Their downtempo electronic chillout won the hearts of music lovers around the world and cemented the Morcheeba name in todays musical culture. With the departure of DJ/producer Paul Godfrey in 2014 ‘Blaze Away’ marks both a fresh start with a new organic approach and a return to the joyous genre-mashing of their early days.

The duo commented on the new direction saying “The early Morcheeba records are really mellow and slow, which is nice when you’re chilling out. But right now, we’re plugged in to playing live, which means being more raw and upbeat. We’re not afraid to have big fuzzy guitar riffs or be a bit rough round the edges.”

The live approach with their new musical direction plays a major role in the new album as Ross Godfrey explained “Touring so much and seeing what works for us on stage, all around the world, gave us the confidence to experiment,” “We brought back a lot of the influences of early Morcheeba records – from ‘50s blues, ‘60s psychedelic rock and ‘70s dub reggae to ‘80s electro and ‘90s hip hop. Whatever felt right, we went with.”

“we wanted to capture the energy and love of our live show, which is such a big part of the band. A lot of Skye’s vocals were recorded live, often in one take. Two of the tracks are in French. None of the guests or collaborators were planned. If we came across someone fun we wanted to work with, we asked them.”

Have a listen here:

From its lush intro track ‘Never Undo’ you know already you’re in good hands for a solid piece of work to wrap your ears around. Morcheeba lay down some blissed out downtempo as all fans would expect, but also manage to switch things up in ‘Blaze Away’ and ‘Love dub’ a nice mix of tough beats and smooth grooves. Bringing further vocal quality to the release, as if we needed any more with the already beautiful vocals of Skye Edwards throughout are French star Benjamin Biolay and rap legend Roots Manuva, both bringing their ‘A’ game as usual and complimenting the Morcheeba sound perfectly. This new addition to the catalogue will not disappoint fans and for new listeners, well, this is Morcheeba enjoy.

Out now on Fly Algaric Records, check it out and ‘Blaze Away’

TRACK LIST

1.Never Undo

2.Blaze Away feat. Roots Manuva

3.Love Dub

4.It’s Summertime

5.Sweet L.A.

6.Paris sur Mer feat. Benjamin Biolay

7.Find Another Way

8.Set Your Sails

9.Free of Debris

10.Mezcal Dream

The album is being released alongside an extensive world headline and festival tour, which runs through to August, and will be followed by an Autumn / Winter headline UK tour.