NOT AN artist content to rest on his laurels, ever restless, ever exploring, Will Dorey, who records as Skinshape, is set to release his second full-length album of the year; his second in three months, in fact.
It was only at the beginning of September, the very end of the summer heat, that he dropped Umoja on the world – an elegant love letter to African guitar music, his trademark six-string shimmer given full tilt with the bounce and chop of highlife, a sprinkling of soul, his songwriting skills, to fashion a fine album of intelligent Afro-Anglo pop discourse.
Now he’s released the title track from December’s forthcoming Arrogance Is The Death Of Men – take a listen below. He’s spun the colour wheel once more, with a return to the sound we last heard him exploring on the album before last, Filoxiny (keep up at the back there); a more downbeat, impressionistic weave, all sun glimmer from that guitar, seduced in reverb and bright tone, that he weaves so well.
And looking at where we’re at politically, well … a title perhaps none more apt, despite its blissful shuffle, that languid double bass, you can pick up on lyrics concerned with a virus-wracked year: “Not able to be social / Afraid to go outside / Don’t forget to breathe today,” presented with delicacy over wordless, bluesy backing vocals and that nuanced guitar. Beauty, but with an angry edge in check.
Skinshape’s Arrogance Is The Death Of Men will be released by Lewis Recordings on digital download, CD, trad black and clear vinyl on December 4th, and is available to pre-order now over at Bandcamp.
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