Special Occasion
The Word
Jolly Discs
Guy Gormley and David Gray double up for another Special Occasion: The Word – a slow dance, synthpop, housey tape jam – out now on the newborn Jolly Discs imprint.
The 8-track opens with a bittersweet sax quickie, providing the warm-up to The Hours I Wait, the first of two vocal tracks on the EP:
David lays a tender singalong over a cocksure beat – dressed with cheeky note pokes and pigeon-like coos. There’s a youthful charm to the melody, naive in its simplicity and beardless in its delivery – a fitting ode to that hard-to-get girl. But this love don’t come for free, a sentiment expressed through witty lyrical play and pulled vocals that sign-off with lovingly pained ‘woah-oh-woahs.’
Skip forward to Visions, one of several instrumental tracks cut for the dancefloor – ripe with off-beat piano hits and wonky gated synths, driven forward by the zooted toot of a Morriconian lead melody. Spaghetti-west meets London-east, come join the party – a 6am kitchen jam locked on a loved-up groove into the magic hour, but with a touch of 2CB sparkle to get that dance fractized.
Finally, cue The Word – the title track and EP swansong that walks the walk with staggered swagger, hand in hand with a trip-over rhythm that leaves you head over heels in a permanent swoon. Fall through the floor – down, down and out, into a street busk that raises a glass to the trials and tribulations of love – be it unrequited, lost, or wrongsided in an unwilling triangle.
The chorus hits, the heart sinks – wilting into a dateless melody.
Eventually what’s found isn’t love.
But whether longed out, mugged off, or feeling Tinder blue – like a boyish Brian Eno, you’ll come running to tie her shoes.
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'The Word' by Special Occasion is out now on Jolly Discs. Open thy heart and wallet here.