Morcheeba reach their 30th anniversary this year. The 1990s band, a unit once synonymous with phrases such as “trip hop” and “chill-out”, are up to album number 11. Their multi-million-selling oeuvre is based around a hazy combination of low-slung hip hop beats, stoned electronic atmospherics, spacey, slightly John Barry wah-wah guitar, and the luxurious voice of frontwoman Skye Edwards. Because the formula is always approximately the same, each album wins or loses dependent on whether they’ve nailed a sweet set of songs. On this occasion they do.
Morcheeba has been the duo of singer Skye Edwards and producer-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey since 2014. Reaching three decades has clearly put them in a reflective mood. A number of songs appear to mark their longevity, from a recent single, the faintly Bond-ish “We Live and Die”, a highlight, to “Hold it Down” with it’s line observing, “It’s been a helluva ride…”
Edwards is at the heart of their appeal. Her voice is velveteen, husky, capable of being sexy, as on the likeable easy listening opener “Call for Love” (“Yeah, I’m not innocent”), but also of tearing down those that deserve it, as on the unfortunate subject of “Dead to Me”. She and Godfrey build persuasive old-fashioned cinematic slow-pop that sometimes wafts off into frayed guitar psychedelia, as on “Bleeding Out” and the relatively rocky “Pareidolia”, which also has wild Colombian flute courtesy of El Léon Pardo..
The latter number also features Godfrey’s wife Amanda Zamolo, and Morcheeba are joined on two songs by Edwards’ spouse, plus her son on drums. This band build a comfortable sonic world, so that sounds about right. Even when rapper Oscar #Worldpeace lets rip on the grinding “Peace of Me”, it doesn’t upset the flow. Morcheeba aren’t here to reinvent anything. They just do Morcheeba. Again. This should irritate, yet it doesn’t. They have just enough songs to get away with it. And they do so with class.
Who knows, in a world where a thousand soothing sad girl popsters have half-inched aspects of their schtick, it may even be time for them to fly high again.
Below: Watch the visualiser for "Call for Love" by Morcheeba
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