Symphonie Pacifique

Greg Foat - Island Life

All The Same

Nubiyan Twist and Ria Moran - All The Same

If ‘After The Dawn’ was the hors d'oeuvre to Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne’s next chapter, ‘Colours & Light’ serves up a slice of the main course. Heralding the official announcement of Paul’s sophomore album under the same name, the title track further showcases the sonic palette listeners should expect to sample across the forthcoming album.
 
Garnering a deluge of BBC 6 Music plays and a brilliant reception, ‘After The Dawn’ sparked excitement around the prospect of a new LP from Project Gemini. Breaking through the winter gloom, the second single ‘Colours & Light’ further spotlights a refinement in Paul’s sound. Talking of the origins of the track, he states that it wields a “UK folk-rock sound with a breakbeat-like rhythm section, partly inspired by a live version of Pentangle’s ‘Wedding Dress’ from a 1973 TV performance”. A psychedelic trip through time and emotion, hazy hues and wistful horizons.
 
Paul’s reverberating vocal refrains draw you in from the get-go, with the cauldron of folk-flavoured guitar, earthy bass and ethereal organs providing a ritual of resonance. Jack Sharp of Wolf People/Large Plants fame stands front and centre, leaning into that rock-tinged feeling with an expertly constructed, wah-wah fuzzed guitar solo. Creating the breakbeat foundation, Sababa 5 drummer Raz Man and percussionist Paul Elliott from Eleven 76/Call Sender work in unison to conjure up a captivating groove.
 
‘Colours & Light’ gives an alluring insight into what’s to come on this much-anticipated follow-up LP. Moving deftly between light and shade, through folk, psych and hazy funk, whilst being artfully enveloped in Paul’s signature cinematic style.

Project Gemini - Colours & Light

Laid back soul sounds as the inimitable Andrew Ashong joins forces with Albert's Favourites label founder Jonny Drop. 

Sultry vocals compliment the yearning sound of horns (courtesy of former Funk Lovin' Criminal, Brian "Fast" Leiser) and mellow, warm bass movement. A magical combination dropping hints of what's to come on the full length LP in April.

The Puzzle Dust MP3s

The Puzzle Dust

Jonny Drop • Andrew Ashong - The Puzzle Dust

‘Entre Chien et Loup’ is the third single and final taster of Project Gemini’s much anticipated, forthcoming second album Colours & Light. A Francophile-flavoured waltz through the depths of emotion, anguish and escape, served up through the lens of Project Gemini’s cinematic style. Featuring the vocal elegance of Gloria’s Wendy Martinez and guitar solo grit of Wolf People/Large Plants’ Jack Sharp, the beauty of the music is also wrapped up in the pain of its context. Shades of darkness, studded with pockets of light.

Having gained a great 6 Music reception with the title track and second single, Colours & Light, Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne presents one of two album cuts that Lyon-based Wendy Martinez features on. Having sent through the instrumental of ‘Entre Chien et Loup’, Paul mentions: “When Wendy sent me back the beautiful vocal parts she’d written, I was completely blown away. She’d totally elevated the track to another level. Lyrically, it documents an individual escaping a destructive relationship, and the song title (‘between dog and wolf’ a well-known French phrase used to describe dusk/twilight) was absolutely perfect. Jack Sharp added the finishing touches with his mesmerising guitar solo.”

Sweeping and celestial, the Francophile touch is heightened by Paul’s analogue saturated, Mellotron playing and the percussive tactility of Eleven 76/Call Sender’s Paul Elliott. A wandering bassline and the expert drumming of Sababa 5’s Raz Man, anchor the track further to its earthly nature.

Project Gemini - Entre Chien Et Loup

If 2022’s The Children Of Scorpio was the debut album that turned people onto the world of Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne, Colours & Light is the body of work that will be buried deep into their hearts. It is a majestic album, bringing together the worlds of folk rock, psych soundtracks and hazy cinematic funk.
 
A growing confidence and ease emanate from the writing and production of this sophomore LP, bolstered by the reception to his standout debut. “It’s a more layered and diverse record” Paul mentions, “with a more outward-looking, global sound, born out of the records I was listening to and the musicians I was lucky enough to collaborate with”. It feels relaxed yet self-assured, with a kaleidoscope of sounds that twist together in a mesmerising fashion.
 
The theme of the album developed naturally through the lyrics Paul began writing. A creative process both plagued and fed by insomnia, nourished by relationships, entwined in emotions, nights out, nights in and the after-effects on the human condition. Relatable themes yet seen through the prism of a soundscape that takes in many a different culture and scene. From acid folk to psych-funk, Francophile elements to Anatolian and Eastern inspirations, all interlocking and rotating as one.
 
Drawing inspiration from those he admires, Colours & Light radiates with collaborations. The title track, which tips its hat to a live 1973 TV version of Pentangle’s ‘Wedding Dress’, features the folk rock, guitar brilliance of Jack Sharp from Wolf People/Large Plants.
 
Elsewhere, two tracks are blessed by the sultry, smokey French vocals of Gloria’s Wendy Martinez, ‘Extra Nuit’ and ‘Entre chien et loup’. The former echoes Paul's love of classic French psych-pop from the late ’60s and early ’70s and artists such as Laurance Vanay, Calcium, Leonie, and Serge Gainsbourg. Martinez's sublime vocal work nestles perfectly within Paul's psych-folk-funk productions, as her Gloria partner, Alexis Morel (aka Kid Victrola) sprinkles a dose of entrancing guitar line magic on proceedings.
 
The list of collaborations extends further with Raz and Markey Funk, drummer Tony Coote and percussionist Paul Elliott all featuring. Regular collaborator and underground icon Barrie Cadogan (Little Barrie) returns along with Bert Page from The Cromagnon Band, who between them provide a hit of whacked-out, fuzzed-up country guitar and Moog madness respectively on ‘Lost In The Woods (Bacchanal)’.
 
Rounding off the record Paul’s daughter, Olivia Osborne, supplies the keyboard intro on the penultimate track ‘Twilight’. Dorian Conway from The Soundcarriers (whose bandmate Paul Isherwood returns on mixing duties) then layers echoing heavy flute parts to magically capture the psychedelic sunrise images brought to mind. 
 
Balancing light and shade on this record, there is beauty and tension all wrapped up in Paul’s vivid and visceral, storytelling gift.

Project Gemini - The Sun Devil Prelude

To celebrate 10 years of one of London’s most loved underground club nights, Tangent, Mr Bongo are thrilled to launch a new compilation series with the two residents at its helm. John Gómez and Nick the Record present a collection of prized, rare and dancefloor-ready tracks from around the globe that have soundtracked the past decade of parties. The first single from the compilation is a stunning, joy filled, Kompa disco anthem courtesy of Kajou’s ‘Tet Chajé’.

The early years of the party saw the pair delving deep into the afro-disco and zouk crates. One firm favourite is this sparkling slice of Haitian disco heat from 1985. A track that captures the energy of humid nights in the packed discotheques of the Haitian diaspora. With a hint of Lincoln Olivetti Brazilian boogie vibes weaved within, ‘Tet Chajé’ is dosed up on funk basslines, strutting disco-tinged guitars and glimmering percussion. A foundation that lets the addictive, harmonising, Haitian Creole vocals transport you to sunnier settings.

A super rare, Caribbean cut that gives a glimpse into Tangent’s eclectic taste, finally given the remastered reissue it deserves.

Kajou - Tet Chajé

Aerials live, dials tuned, Transmission Towers broadcasting. On either side of the river Mersey, transcendental communications are traded back and forth. Two late-night revellers, one firing messages filled with music, the other returning them laced with lyrics. The result, a dopamine hit of oddball machine soul, melded with a highlife, Afrofuturist touch. Wonky and murky yet deeply emotional, Transmission One, is a debut album that also marks the first release on Luke Una’s É Soul Cultura label, encompassing expertly the off-kilter atmosphere the label sets to orbit. 

A synthesised landscape with a Northern charm, Transmission Towers marry the musical worlds of two artists that last collaborated over a decade ago. 10 years have passed, lives have been led, but a gravitational pull has placed Mark Kyriacou and Eleanor Mante back in each other’s spheres on opposite sides of the city of Liverpool. Energised with a newfound desire to strip it all back to the sounds that influenced their formative years in the late ‘80s and ‘90s - astral travelling, intoxicated on Motor City techno, Black Dog IDM and mystical Sun Ra. 
 
Mark half Irish, half Greek Cypriot, Eleanor half Nigerian, half Ghanian, the music contained within is an alchemy of those roots and the pivotal acts that buried deep into their minds. A cosmic contrast, part machine-made, part distinctly human. Take the opener ‘UP’, an ESG-channelling, sci-fi punk beatdown or the polychromatic hyperspace anthem ‘Roller Skater 23’. 
 
Transportive throughout, you ride the solar waves, pace and emotion ebbing and flowing. Tracks like ‘Go Slow Heart’ and ‘Cosmic Trigger’ step to a slower beat but hit with a punch. The former, a slo-mo blast of celestial tenderness, the latter an otherworldly, chugged-out lunar excursion, micro-dosing on whacked-out Wah Wah and Eleanor’s ethereal vocals. Beaming love letters to space and back, ‘Sparse’ marries the organic with the artificial, pianos and percussion circling around synth pads and broadcasting bleeps.
 
Elsewhere, vibrations move faster. ‘Mega’ strikes, fusing sonic tribalism with psychedelic swirls, as ‘Everything’ sweeps you up in its extra-terrestrial new wave grip. Synth stabs and basslines fizzing from every angle.  
 
Demos of Transmission Towers music surfaced on Luke Una’s radar, making him stop in his tracks. Something magical was emerging, perfectly aligned with the E Soul guardian’s tastes. Guidance followed, quickly turning into conversations about Transmission One becoming the first release on Luke’s own label. 
 
Escapist and futurist yet grounded and relatable. Transmission One is synthesis meets sentiment with a deep, spine-tingling soul at its core.

Transmission Towers - Up

Ventas Rumba

Ezéchiel Pailhès - Eclair

Record label. Record shop. Film label. Since 1989.

Kajou - Tet Chajé

Mr Bongo

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