Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Shame

Song: Shame
Artist: Slow Knights
Album: Cosmos




While the Scissor Sisters are on a hiatus, lead guitarist Del Marquis (aka Derek Gruen) has been working on his solo debut album after a handful of EP's and a mixtape he released while in the band.  Slow Knights, the moniker he's given the effort is an 80s/90s white-boy soul record recorded with members of Prince's circa Diamonds and Pearls band the New Power Generation.

So there you go.

Gruen works with a couple vocalists when he's not doing the duties himself, including Book of Mormon star Mykal Kilgore on opening track "Caught Up in the Rhythm," and Bright Light Bright Light's Rod Thomas on "In the Quiet," as well as some female vocalists I can't seem to find info on.  It feels like a whole though, and not the patchwork mess collabs can often create.

This is a throwback through and through, with nods to Prince, Madonna, Chaka Khan, & Kylie among others, but it also had a modern touch to it that saves it from straight-up nostalgia.  Initial listens seem to only highlight the references, but upon several listens the charms of the record really come forth, both sonically and melodically.  This AM's listen was my fourth, and while I woke up knowing I liked the album and wanted to highlight it today, each track has come on and gotten a "Oh yeah... I like this one too!" kind of listen.  This is a GREAT pop record.

"Shame" is the first single, so I'm just going to highlight that but have honestly been going back and forth with a couple tracks as I like them so much.  Best just take a listen to the record here:

Enjoy.

Shame
Under Attack

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