Artist: Nightmares On Wax
Album: Feelin' Good
Label: Warp
Released: 16/09/13
George Evelyn's musical record remains untarnished, his latest Nightmares on Wax album another global gift of accessible, soulful and casually evocative tunes.
Feelin' Good begins on tiptoes, as piano, strings and trumpet take the leading roles in the delicate and docile build up of So Here We Are, a gentle dance of ear and soul therapy. Feel-good vibes continue and amplify for the motivational Be, I Do, which urges the listener to go forth and achieve his or her dreams with such a relaxed swinging beat it seems for a few minutes as easy as a trip to get milk.
Lead single Now Is The Time is a vibrant burst of reggae-tipped energy but doesn't tug the heart strings the way follower Give Thx does, its soulful and old school brass section blasts through me, jerking out those emotional end-of-season reflections like nothing else. Eye (Can't See) and Tapestry will get you dancing, whilst intimate whispers and tinkling triangle of There 4u equate to a bedtime tuck in and a lullaby.
This album will do just fine for friendly background sounds, but it deserves more of your attention than that. Having been a part of its first live airing at the album launch at Ibiza's Las Dalias Markets, I can attest that Evelyn and his collaborators have arranged these reasonably simple musical ideas to become more than the sum of their parts, when experienced live or otherwise. The new Feelin' Good tracks slotted perfectly in with previous album classics like You Wish and Flip Ya Lid, and smiles of satisfaction leaked through the room like gravy as those present began to revel in the collective positivity of the moment.
Not everyone will gush about this as I have, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't at least feel improved after sessioning Feelin' Good.
Tracklist:
01. So Here We Are
02. Be, I Do
03. Master Plan
04. Luna 2 feat. Wolfgang Haffner
05. Now is The Time
06. Give Thx
07. Eye (Can't See)
08. Tapestry
09. There 4u
10. Om Sweet H(Om)e
