Till Late magazine described the Leeds-based septet Submotion Orchestra as “drawing upon dubstep, soul, ambient electronica, jazz and dub, their unique music is at once delicate and heavy, spacious and dense, highly atmospheric but firmly rooted. Earth-shaking bass and drums combine with lush keyboard and trumpet textures to create the perfect bed for the fragile beauty of Ruby Wood’s vocals, and the celestial effects of sound designer Ruckspin.” Radio 1 doyen, Gilles Peterson claimed they were “somewhere between Cinematic Orchestra and dubstep – just right!’ In layman’s terms, this is another salvo in the nascent trip-hop revival.
Personally, I’m just fine with that. The sub-genre was always unfairly maligned as the province of Cabernet club kids and dub-smoking dilettantes, but I’ll call foul. From Mala to Gaslamp Killer, ask any contemporary bass artist worth a damn and they’ll ride for the downtempo dirges of Tricky, Portishead, Mo Wax and Massive Attack. Granted, no one’s still calling Morcheeba the messiah, but Submotion harness the certain power derived from blending a variety of genre’s into one highly intoxicating Jeffrey. This is music to touch the furry wall: haunting, narcotic, and transportive.
Videos below the jump.
Download the acoustic version of “All Yours” here in exchange for your e-mail.
Stream: (via Req Effect)
Submotion Orchestra ‘All Yours’ (Jack Sparrow remix) by Your Army
