With the blessing of Gilles Peterson airplay as well as a signing to the great man’s record label, this young Englishman is causing something of a sensation in the UK new soul circles.

It’d be fair to say there’s a certain similarity in voice as well as hype to a certain Jay Kay, but hopefully Ben Westbeech avoids the same pitfalls, musical and otherwise, that the Jamiroquai frontman suffered.

Either way, it’s easy to see why there’s a fuss – the voice is effortlessly smooth and moves from gently insistent (as on the mildly profound opening track) to dripping sex (like on Nothing Else) to bursting with fun (as on the effervescent Dance With Me).

Pair that with beats that are fairly bare, leaving room for the fullness of Ben’s voice to flow through to the ear, add some jazz piano, horn section fills, and varying degrees of minimal yet soulful sounding electronic elements and you’ve got a winner for anyone that’s into the place where deep dance music meets modern soul.

Rating: 8/10

For comments on this review go to:
www.teknoscape.com.au/forums/showthread.php?p=1331767

Tracklist:
1. Welcome 
2. So Good Today 
3. Get Silly 
4. Bright Future 
5. Nothing Else 
6. Gotta Keep On 
7. Taken Away From 
8. Grey Skies 
9. Stop What Your Doing 
10. Dance With Me 
11. Get Closer feat Die 
12. Hang Around 
13. Pusherman 
14. In/Out 
15. Beauty 

This was a RTRFM Full Frequency album feature.

Label: Brownswood/Creative Vibes