Over the last few years, NuNorthern Soul has established a number of traditions, most notably annual releases that provide a snapshot of the label’s output while also considering their suitability for certain seasons. Perhaps the most popular is founder Phil Cooper’s Summer Selections series, which each year showcases warm and sunny gems mined from a range of forthcoming releases.

The 2021 edition of the sampler, the third in total, may well be the best yet. Six tracks deep and as subtly varied as you’d expect, the entertaining set features tracks from a mixture of exciting newcomers, experienced producers and long-time members of the NuNorthern Soul family.

To kick things off, Cooper introduces us to Marshall Watson, an American producer who later in the year will release two five-track EPs on the label. ‘A Door To The Sky’, which will feature on the Sunsets On Larkin Part 1 EP, is sumptuously sun-kissed, with delay-laden electric guitar textures and sparkling electronics reclining over a tactile electronic groove. Lova’s ‘Echoes of Memories’, the track that follows, recalls the atmospheric, synthesizer-sporting new age Balearica popularised by Quiet Force in the late 1980s. The Italian producer was signed after bringing a USB stick of productions to one of Phil Cooper’s gigs in Ibiza; his Gypsophilia EP will be one to check when it drops later in the year.

GusK’s ‘Sketch #4 - Anafi Nights’ is seductive and exotic. It’s a crackling and atmospheric musical painting that daubs starry stabs and yearning melodies atop a bubbly, lo-fi drum machine beat. It provides a perfect snapshot of the Greek musician’s Mediterranean Sketches EP, which gathers together home recordings made between 1997 and 2003. 

Arguably even more immersive and enveloping is ‘Aqua Blancas Sunrise’ by Tambores En Benirras, the musical project of Cumbrian selector DJ Gripper. A slow-burning delight full of intricate musical flourishes –think drifting female vocalizations, Indian-influenced percussion, twinkling pianos and haunting clarinet motifs – the track is one of the many highlights on the Barrow in Furness-based producer’s forthcoming debut album for NuNorthern Soul.

To round things off, Cooper has chosen to offer-up cuts from two very experienced artists. George Solar (real name Georg Boskamp) is an Ibiza-based German producer who has been collaborating and releasing music since the late 1980s. ‘Infrared’, his contribution to Summer Selections 3, is a languid and glassy-eyed slab of slow-motion Balearic dub. His Los Rayos Del Sol EP will be one to look out for later in the year and is his debut solo release.

The sampler’s final missive fittingly comes from long-time friend of the family B.J Smith, a regular contributor to NuNorthern Soul releases who has reunited with Huw Costin – a vocalist he previously worked with on Smith & Mudd releases for Claremont 56 – for a double A-side single due later in 2021. ‘Sun When You Come’ is as warming and hazy as you’d expect and features Costin’s emotive, reverb-laden vocals and mazy electric piano solos rising above a suitably horizontal groove. It provides a stunning, sunset-ready conclusion to another superb set of Summer Selections.

Track Listing

Marshall Watson - A Door In The Sky 7m 06s
(Taken from Sunsets On Larkin Part 1 EP NUNS033D)

Lova - Echoes Of Memories 7m 02s
(Taken from Gypsophila EP NUNS035D)

GusK - Sketch #4 Anafi Nights 6m 38s
(Taken from Mediterranean Sketches [Home Recordings 1997 - 2003] EP NUNS037D)

Tambores En Benirras - Aguas Blancas Sunrise 6m 54s
(Taken from Orbe Dotado LP NUNS039D)

George Solar - Infrared 4m 16s
(Taken from Los Rayos Del Sol EP (NUNS040D)

B.J. Smith & Huw Costin - Sun When You Come 6m 32s
(Taken from Sun When You Come / Shinrin-Yoku NUNS041D)

Marshall Watson - A Door In The Sky

This summer, NuNorthern Soul will release eight EPs as part of the Hints of Ibiza series, which comes with specially commissioned artwork from acclaimed artist Helen Sadler, whose colourful, abstract paintings and sketches are directly inspired by life on the Balearic Islands.

Two of these EPs, Sunsets on Larkin parts one and two, will showcase the work of Marshall Watson (real name Shane Watson), an experienced producer, sound designer, composer and mix engineer with a near 20-year career to his name.

Sunsets on Larkin (Part One) showcases Watson at his most atmospheric, emotive and colourful best, offering a quintet of cuts rich in dreamlike electronics, lilting melodies, enveloping pads, thoughtful instrumentation and languid, laidback grooves.

The EP opens with ‘Distant Horizon’, a slowly unfurling, sunset-ready ambient soundscape in which twinkling electronic melodies, flecks of glistening electric guitar and bubbly synthesizer sounds ride waves of dreamy, sun-baked chords. It’s little less than stunning all told.

Watson reaches for gentle beats and chunky, metronomic bass on ‘Avenue of Mystery’, wrapping reverb and delay-laden percussion in eyes-closed guitar solos, more intricately arranged melodies and warming musical textures, before wrapping bongo rhythms in chiming lead lines, neo-classical style ambient chords and toasty bass on the slow-burn evening delight that is ‘Dogwood’.

Those raised on the tactile, wide-eyed and meditative ambient house sounds of the early 1990s will enjoy ‘Spirit Fingers’, where pulsing, bilious synthesizer chords and yearning, slow-motion melodies stretch out atop an Italian dream house style bass-line and leisurely electro beats. They should also savour the EP’s impeccable closing cut, too. Marked out by positive chord progressions, dreamy synth sounds, shimmering guitar motifs and a chunky Balearic disco groove, ‘Door To The Sky’ provides a fittingly colourful and blissful finale to Watson’s first EP for NuNorthern Soul.

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Marshall Watson - A Door In The Sky SAMPLER

Sunsets on Larkin (Part One) showcases Watson at his most atmospheric, emotive and colourful best, offering a quintet of cuts rich in dreamlike electronics, lilting melodies, enveloping pads, thoughtful instrumentation and languid, laidback grooves.

The EP opens with ‘Distant Horizon’, a slowly unfurling, sunset-ready ambient soundscape in which twinkling electronic melodies, flecks of glistening electric guitar and bubbly synthesizer sounds ride waves of dreamy, sun-baked chords. It’s little less than stunning all told.

Watson reaches for gentle beats and chunky, metronomic bass on ‘Avenue of Mystery’, wrapping reverb and delay-laden percussion in eyes-closed guitar solos, more intricately arranged melodies and warming musical textures, before wrapping bongo rhythms in chiming lead lines, neo-classical style ambient chords and toasty bass on the slow-burn evening delight that is ‘Dogwood’.

Those raised on the tactile, wide-eyed and meditative ambient house sounds of the early 1990s will enjoy ‘Spirit Fingers’, where pulsing, bilious synthesizer chords and yearning, slow-motion melodies stretch out atop an Italian dream house style bass-line and leisurely electro beats. They should also savour the EP’s impeccable closing cut, too. Marked out by positive chord progressions, dreamy synth sounds, shimmering guitar motifs and a chunky Balearic disco groove, ‘Door To The Sky’ provides a fittingly colourful and blissful finale to Watson’s first EP for NuNorthern Soul.

We are eclectic, we are not a SOUL music label, but a label for music with SOUL. Head to our website or bandcamp for more info.

Marshall Watson is an electronic music producer, DJ and remixer.  NuNothern Soul, Italians Do It Better, Seven Villas, Loöq Records, Highpoint Lowlife. 1/2 of Causeway.