A release that made it into many end of year roundups as 2010 drew to a close was the Skeletons’ album “Smile”, a Benedic Lamdin AKA Nostalgia 77 produced side project modeled from studio outtakes and scraps of previously recorded session material, and later released on his own Impossible Ark imprint. Although following in the footsteps of his earlier jazz flavoured releases, the tone of this album was much more experimental, drawing on a range of influences including blues, dub and even a little Mulatuesque Ethio-jazz. A year later and following his last studio album “Everything Under The Sun” in 2009, Mr Lamdin continues the trend and returns to Tru Thoughts ready to unleash his fourth solo project, “The Sleepwalking Society”, due to go on sale 21 March 2011.
In keeping with his Skeletons project, the mood on this latest work is far more than just jazz. Working with a single vocalist Josa Petit, the soul and blues overtones remain on tracks such as “Sleepwalker” and lead single “Simmerdown” (out on 7″ next week, catch the video here) but there’s also a strong folk vibe woven throughout the mix. You can preview the two aforementioned tracks and three other songs taken from the album by heading over to The Sleepwalking Society promo page. For those interested in a little background to the album you can also peep a short video of Ben talking about it in his own words.