Alan Davidson (Kitchen Cynics) introduced me to this promising talent. This sample is meant as demo for a future studio recording, but is pretty much worth hearing. Philip is much in demand on the Aberdeen music scene. He was recently asked to make some new recordings which Will Oldham was producing locally for Alasdair Roberts, and he also participated with Kitchen Cynics latest release (which is reviewed on the separate Kitchen Cynics fan page). I also found out he also plays with the Aberdeen based mainstream pop band The Simon Gall Band, and also participated with the London based group ‘Delicate Awo’.
Most tracks have a delicate mood influenced by sitar psychedelia, and by various kinds of Jazzfusion styles. The first track, “The Traveller” is a jazzfusion song with acoustic guitar, bass, tabla, drums and brass. This is followed by the instrumental “Together we stand inseparable in love” with a catchy groovy semi-looped semi-Latin lounge jazz vibe (bass, acoustic guitar, flute), a fine intro for the singer-songwriter based song “Where I want to be” (with acoustic guitar and some airy keyboards). It is especially the tracks with Indian titles I like most. “Vrindavam” for instance, is a neo-60’s song, which has a tempered beach-like summer vibe, accompanied by acoustic guitars, lots of flute, and another catchy jazzy rhythm. “Sundaram” is another favourite, as a perfect dreamy psych song accompanied by sitar and flutes. “Part 2” of it has very moody acoustic guitar fingerpicking, and like the first part, with two harmonic layers of flute. Both these tracks have a very warm sound and echo on the recording. On the last track, “Sri Sri Radha Govinda” the Sanskrit title is repeated in dual vocals. This is accompanied with acoustic guitar fingerpicking and some flute, with birds in the background. It is a perfect closer for a nice quasi debut album. I await the finished article.
