DAVID MCALMONT is back!
He’s back!
Owner of one of the most effortlessly great, yet most underappreciated British voices of the last quarter-century, David has released his first new material since limited clear-vinyl 7” “Transparent” in 2018, which he recorded in cahoots with Hifi Sean; and it’s only his second musical outing in more years than I’d care to enumerate.
“Bunker to Bunker” is the debut single from the pair’s new outfit, McHifi, which is more of an official creative bonding with his recent foil. It’s a very 2020 paean to isolation, to being apart, in these months of lockdown and social readjustment, aligning McAlmont’s vocal range to Hifi’s electronic moves.
“Now that’s its bunker to bunker do you read me? Do you feel me?” flow’s McAlmont’s soul-angel refrain: reaching out across the Covid barriers, over a string-laden, electronic soul sweep.
The pair have been swapping melodies and song-jigsaw pieces since 2017; arrangements and vocals flying back and forth via fibre optics. Their working environment for the final knitting of the new material was the 18th floor of “ … a London tower block within hearing distance of the Bow bells. The lofty setting with spectacular 270-degree views of the city was perfect for McAlmont, who detests studios … no engineer. No tea boy.”
And it’s just the beginning. An album is ready, which the duo call “ .. an electronic, psychedelic soul adventure featuring an 80-piece orchestra on some tracks … [their sound is] somewhere between steam punk soul and space race blues.”
We just need the pandemic to pass, and now we have another rock-solid reason for it to do so. The pair say: “An act of god foiled those McHifi aspirations – for now! The album is made and is ready to fly when the new normal happens.”
“Bunker To Bunker” is released today, June 22nd, via Plastique Recordings https://plastiquerecordings.bandcamp.com/track/bunker-to-bunker
