'Where Did I Go Wrong'? Well, what about 'Bath Time with Brenda' as the Heads Of House at the College Of Knowledge release the latest album of Hudson Whitlock's alter ego.
It's a bit of a scary cover as the label avoid the title 'Bath Time with Brenda'. Hudson Whitlock (Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo and The Pro-Teens) unveils a full album of this solo project that takes inspiration from the1960s pysch (not exactly Jeffersob Airplane's 'After Bathing At Baxter's') but more a mix of Melbourne cinematic soul movement, The Delfonics, Jean-Claude Vannier, and Serge Gainsbourg!
Whitlock's usual drummer duties are augmented with his falsetto vocals as singer, composer, and arranger for some reason I'm thinking James Blake vs. FlyLo vs. Little Dragon vs. Jeb Loy Nichols vs. Thundercat and more: it's quite a heady mix.
A great follow-up to the single, 'Where Did I Go Wrong' (see review HERE) which takes centre stage along with other lyrically emotional 'My Tempo', 'Hardly', 'Dedicated' and 'Family'.
All ten tracks are beautifully produced and if you're thinking of doing a pared down Wall Of Sound in Australia, these guys have got the valves before you.
Shame he wasn't available to step into Michael Kiwanuka's shoes when he couldn't do last weekends We Out Here festival but you're likely to hear this on Gilles Peterson's BBC 6 Music show and all the other obvious DJs on the station.
Darvid Thor - Bass
Lachlan Stuckey - Guitar
Jethro Curtin - Piano, Farfisa
Nobby Denton - Percussion
Esther Henderson - Violin, backing vocals
Ella Thompson - Backing vocals
Lewis Coleman - Backing vocals
Zoe Fox - Backing vocals
Ruby Dargaville - Backing vocals
Recorded and mixed by Henry Jenkins
Mastered by Max Dowling
Cover art by Hudson Whitlock
Cover photo by Estella Paltos