Apology Accepted is an album that takes the idea of fusion to another level. It fuses musical styles, sounds and genres – from hip-hop grooves to R&B moves, from analogue excellence to digital dexterity, from the timeless sounds of the past to the potential sound of what the future might hold. But it also blends the older artist Ray Phil’s seasoned storytelling narrative style with the younger, happening hipster vocal deliveries of his collaborator, Shoestring.
Together, they run across the musical landscape to create seven tracks that sound like little you have heard before. Well, you might recognise the individual elements, but as always, the real charm is the way they intersect and hook up, the way they mix and merge and match and meld those sounds and styles into something new.
The opener, Troubleman Blues, takes the format of the old blues tune and replaces the battered acoustic guitar with ticking beats and pulsing basses and a vocal line that reminds us that autotune is more than just a practical studio tool but in the right hands can be turned into an instrument in its own right, taking the vocals into beguiling new sonic realms. These are the right hands.
I Didn’t Listen blends spacious electronica with beguiling experimental dance grooves, Renegade leans into a new take on folk-hop acoustica and Sugarcane and Honeydew is the sound of modern R&B moving into the next phase of its evolution.
We hear the word fusion bandied around a lot. History tells us that it usually results in something unpalatable, such as Rap-Rock or Acid Jazz, but these two imaginative and creative music makers explore what the term means to its fullest and get unparalleled results.
