Approximately this time last year, W&H were utterly beguiled by CHUNGKING's last single "Let The Love In" where this Brighton-based trio turned in an undeniably wonderful late-summer pop treat that showcased Jessie Banks' glorious voice and had the ability to push those Autumnal clouds back a crucial few weeks.
It all seemed ripe for the taking, but then.....nothing. And then a year later - again seemingly from nowhere - we finally get the long-delayed follow-up, "Making Music." What gives?
Things make more sense when you consider that Jessie and guitarist Sean have split up 'tween times, leaving the atmosphere kinda fraught in their rehearsal room, with bassist James ending up the intermediary/ gooseberry and mediating between the other two.
It's needed a whole lotta precious time to heal and clear the air, but sensibly Chungking have buried the collective hatchet and stayed together to present us with "Making Music": a tremendous four and a half minutes which work out the band's problems in public.
For the first few seconds it seemed a mistake as the initial plodding keyboards sound the Supertramp alert in your reviewer's beleaguered brain, but thankfully, once it really yawns into life and Jessie's remarkable larynx stretches, it all morphs into something sublime and heavenly. I'm not sure if those angelic backing vocals are just Jessie double-tracked or not, but whatever: "Making Music" is a widescreen sweep of a song with a floaty supremacy akin to Air. Can't be bad.
|
"Let The Love In" was touched by the hand of Tim 'Love' Lee, but this time 4 Hero does the remix biz. From the opening "Strawberry Fields"-style mellotron motif on down, this is a cool reworking. Hero inserts heavier drums and a well-deserved edge and allows the strings to work their way into all sorts of nooks and crannies. Smart stuff, all told.
They sign off with "Night & Day", whch isn't the Cole Porter standard, but IS light and jazzy and built around an acoustic guitar figure and tender droplets of strings. Once again, no-one dare steal Jessie's thunder, and though it's as light as Angel Delight, even this deceptively throwaway slice of sophisticated pop burrows under the skin within a couple of plays.
This writer, for one, is glad Chungking have stuck around. To make all this work after the pain of a splintered relationship and all that goes with it on a daily basis takes guts and spirit. Chungking have all that and more and "Making Music" is definitely what they should continue to do. They made the right decision in the end.
|
