Electronic outfit Morcheeba are best remembered for their late 1990s crossover success with singles like ‘Rome Wasn’t Build in a Day’, ‘The Sea’ and ‘The World Looking In’, with the latter being featured on a number of prominent ad campaigns. However, with three UK top 20 albums to their name, Morcheeba are hardly just a singles band. Their blend of electronic, trip-hop, acoustic and soul sounds put them right up there with 1990s innovators Massive Attack and DJ Shadow.
After the band’s vocalist Skye Edwards left in 2002, Morcheeba went through a number of changes in vocalist. Indeed, their 2008 album, Dive Deep, saw a rotating cast of guests taking up vocal duties. Now, album number seven, Blood Like Lemonade, sees the Godfrey brothers reunite with the vocalist that was so key to their initial success. With the honey-voiced Edwards back on board, the album strikes a balance between the glitz and the grit, the tune and the texture, ultimately arriving at a delicately poised electro-acoustic middle-ground.
Trip-hop beats are decorated with African thumb-piano on ‘Even Though’; a brilliant blend of eastern sitar drones and blues informs ‘Mandala’; stripped back vocals and acoustic guitars illuminate ‘I am The Spring’. All are signs that on Blood Like Lemonade Morcheeba are back – and better than ever.