Anthony Stubbs and Stephen Farrier are journeyman musicians who seem to have everything. They write smooth tunes, record sumptuous arrangements and groove along like Lionel Ritchie. The industry isn’t interested, so they've put out this four track selection under their own steam. My guess is that they will find an enthusiastic audience in urban redevelopment land. Canal side apartments with parking space, and a tremor of Steely Dan in the flat next door. Sparse furnishings, carefully chosen glassware. An eye for a brief fling. Skiing holidays.
Take this as sniffy if you like. My point is that this is professional stuff done to a very high standard. The music is gently funky with careful layers of voices, strings, horns, guitars, drums and keyboards all arranged in perfect order. The mood is cool and a little moody. You could say it was sexy, without it ever sticking out its tongue or shaking its arse.
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"Blue Sky" itself is a swinging-along poppy thing with a perfectly fitted jacket and slacks. The blurb says "shimmering", and it’s not wrong. "You’re my blue sky" is a line that a mildly infatuated couple could secretly share and cherish as their own. "Sublime" shifts towards moodier R&B lite. The rhymes are a bit corny – but isn’t that the very thing de nos jours? "Blind Panic" is a string of proverbially respectable verbal clichés set among some tasty string phrases and funky guitar and flute. "Tell You Every Day" moves towards the bedroom door with a more direct vocal and a more intimate pulse in the bass department. I also have to report that those backing tracks are full of quality input.
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