It’s been a while since we wrote about Hartlepool-based quartet NEEB. Since just over a year ago, to be precise, when we celebrated ‘Take To The Sky’ and its laidback, late-night flair. Fast forward to today, and the British project has returned with their latest effort, ‘I Know You Know’, anticipating a forthcoming second album, ‘YANA’. NEEB are Mark Hand on keys, Tony Waite on bass, Mark Lloyd on drums, and Jasmine Weatherill on vocals.
From a sonic standpoint, ‘I Know You Know’ is the perfect example of the elegant eclecticism that NEEB have to offer. It’s rather hard to pinpoint the single to a specific genre box. Instead, the piece thrives on a plastic, organic mix of fusion, soul and jazz influences, even embracing a certain acid-jazz allure in this instance. Weatherill’s vocals are always delivered with a certain gravitas and spiritual weight, truly pushing the project into leftfield shores.
‘I Know You Know’ carries a heightened hypnotic charge, the result of a peculiar groove over a 6/4 arrangement, something that creates a ‘floating’ sensation, if you will, slightly disorienting the listener. Reacting to such a strong instrumental piece, Weatherill explains: “In my head, the loop sounded circular, like it was constantly going round and coming back to the same place, so I wanted the vocal to reflect that feeling. I created a repetitive, slightly edgy vocal line that could sit within the loop and almost become part of its cycle.”
Recommended! Discover ‘I Know You Know’ now: