Will Holland is an amazing producer in the electronic scene under the Quantic alias, but it seems that this young talents work with his Soul Orchestra is the outlet that is quickly exposing the Brighton-based prodigy to the rest of the world. And for good reason, as this follow-up to Stampede contains all the same elements that made his debut so engaging and funky, but now with twice as much Alice Russell. The phenomenal songstress returns to lend her captivating pipes to Hollands compositions and gives further evidence that she could very well be the most soulful white woman in music today. Her impressive range is in full effect as Russell digs down deep to belt out a vintage Aretha Franklin style on the title track, but she also gives you goose bumps when she softens her tone for the lush strings that accompany her on "Feeling Good. This record continues to create rich and organic grooves with the instrumentals, coming correct with the beautiful cinematic sounds of "Paintings and Journeys and blowing the roof off with their heavy rendition of Mr. Scruffs "Get a Move On. Holland has delivered an impressive addition to an already fantastic discography of soul music that is equal parts vintage and contemporary. As young as this cat is, its exciting to think how far hes going to stretch this sound.
Is Alice the perfect voice for your music? Will Holland: Yeah, definitely. Shes talented and humble and thats what I need. Someone whos raw, tells it like it is and soulful. Ive travelled a lot with her and if shes singing on the train, in the hotel or on stage, its always there. Almost the whole structure of pop music today is based around having backing tracks and vocoders, but this is a person who can truly sing and its getting back to that traditional thing of having talent before anything.
Its heart-breaking that bands like Quantic Soul Orchestra are few and far between, especially since soul and funk used to be massive. It upsets me all the time. Theres no pride in musicianship anymore. Its sad to think that era will never happen again, unless we get a power cut and everything has to go back to community-based music. Thats where all of these things came from and personally, the only thing I still see that existing in today is salsa. I guess there are others obviously, but for me jazz is a spectacle or an exhibition and young people arent going to jazz concerts and being involved, theyre just watching it or dancing to it. And the same with funk, but I still think its alive and relevant.
(Ubiquity)Is Alice the perfect voice for your music? Will Holland: Yeah, definitely. Shes talented and humble and thats what I need. Someone whos raw, tells it like it is and soulful. Ive travelled a lot with her and if shes singing on the train, in the hotel or on stage, its always there. Almost the whole structure of pop music today is based around having backing tracks and vocoders, but this is a person who can truly sing and its getting back to that traditional thing of having talent before anything.
Its heart-breaking that bands like Quantic Soul Orchestra are few and far between, especially since soul and funk used to be massive. It upsets me all the time. Theres no pride in musicianship anymore. Its sad to think that era will never happen again, unless we get a power cut and everything has to go back to community-based music. Thats where all of these things came from and personally, the only thing I still see that existing in today is salsa. I guess there are others obviously, but for me jazz is a spectacle or an exhibition and young people arent going to jazz concerts and being involved, theyre just watching it or dancing to it. And the same with funk, but I still think its alive and relevant.
