What do you when you’re job of dancing like a man possessed is halted by a broken foot? When I broke my leg on a gap year ski season, I gave up drinking to subsidise my loss of earnings, read Count Of Monte Cristo (twice) and waited for my then girlfriend to return after teaching ski school each day with stolen children’s cookies. What I should have done is create an intricate piece of animation to accompany my next single (probably should start with the single first).
South London duo The Correspondents last week released the video to forthcoming single ‘Well Measured Vice’, a hand-drawn black & white animated delicacy of 2232 frames, all constructed from scratch by singer Mr Bruce whilst recovering from a broken metatarsal. The video reached top spot on reddit.com overnight, catapulting it to 60,000+ views on YouTube within 24 hours. Now a staple at any self-respecting festival, The Correspondents live show has toured the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, dazzling audiences with their frenetic mix of electronic, swing, funk, pop and drum & bass. The fabulously eccentric Mr Bruce treats spectators to flashes of spandex amidst a frenzy of rapid scatting, whilst Chucks drops an array of grooves and beats that only spur on further the highly energetic dance routines being laid before the crowd. Add a travelator and infra-red sensored light boxes and there’s all the proof you need as to why The Correspondents won the Telegraph’s Top 10 Glastonbury highlights two years in a row.
‘Well Measured Vice’ is exactly that; a well-balanced hit of 60’s swing beat with just enough bass to fill the floor but without taking away from the groove and leaving ample space for the organ, horns and guitar all to have their moment. Mr Bruce’s vocals have this uncanny knack of verging on melancholy whilst happily bouncing along with the track and are complimented well by the cheeky guitar melody that fits so cleanly over the whole song.
You can imagine this single finding its way into the collection of funk and groove DJs and the remixes from Featurecast and Chucks himself are a good indication of its durability as a sample. Up there at the top of their releases, it’ll be really interesting to see what the rest of the debut album contains when it finally arrives later this year.
‘Well Measured Vice’ will be released on January 28th digitally and on 500 limited edition 10- inch vinyls, each numbered and containing a bespoke hand drawn illustration by Mr Bruce that will later be made into a 40 second animated video. Head to their website to find out more.
[Rating:4]
