Back catalogue: Psych/Garage Rock

Review: If you don't know William Dorey already then chances are you're about to realise you've been missing out on quite the artist. Working as Skinshape, he's managed to garner a quiet cult following for his relatively quiet music, designed to unwind to, allow worries of the day to unwind, and dissipate into a concoction of psychedelic pop, downtempo electronica and dubby grooves.
Turn Away, a two-track single featuring titular piece and 'Dreams of Panama' is the latest case in point. Sublime melodies and deceptively advanced acoustic guitar work set to lackadaisical rhythms and beat patterns, soothing brass and synthesised strings helping capture a real mood. Which, specifically, is all about slowing down, and taking time to appreciate the moment. Designed to transport you to far away places, real and imagined, it sounds reductive to say these are bonafide travelling tunes but they are. The real joy is they also sound incredible when standing still.

Review: Talk about fitting titles for an album. Skinshape has pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one, presenting a lush and intoxicating 11 tracks of calm (or, perhaps more accurately, cool) waters waiting for you to float on. These are pieces informed by 1960s movie scores, 70s funk, southern US psychedelic blues, and all manner of genres and subgenera that place an emphasis on sticky heat tempos, guitar licks, and a feeling of keeping one eye on the rear view mirror while cruising imagined highways.

Another triumph by the artist, if those descriptions aren't really cutting it then think the quietest ends of Khruanbin, Bonobo on a beach day, and El Michels Affair at their most soulful and cinematic. Transportive stuff, while purposefully informed and influenced by songs of the past, somehow Skinshape manages to paint fresh mental pictures with these familiar brushes.

Review: Should you be that travel agent searching for the original sound of 60s-70s in your funk, soul, psychedelic rock and folk today, then Will Dorey, aka Skinshape, is your partner in time. Tracks on the album sometimes comes across as easy to compare with a stream of other admired acts like Air ("After Midnight") to Beck and Australia's Tame Impala on "Metanoia" and "Life As One". Throughout the LP, furthermore, Skinshape's fourth, it's hard to not escape hints of French inspirations in its sometimes jazzy inspirations, with flickers of the 1973 soundtrack to the film La Planete sauvage (Fantastic Planet) never too far off. A highly recommended listen!

Review: You don't just hear the 1970s funk influences in Skinshape's music, you can feel them too - especially if you're doing the right thing soundsystem-wise. Tracks like 'The Eastern Connection' could almost be swapped-in for a Dilated Peoples instrumental, all lackadaisical roll and hot, balmy air. In actual fact, it's the work of Dorset, UK maestro, Will Dorey.

An accomplished musician with a significant back catalogue (make a note), the whole album struts, strides and strolls its way through intoxicating grooves. Half the time it's hard to know whether you should be kicking back on a tropical veranda slowly sipping on a fresh Old Fashioned. But then it's more timeless than vintage. Using elements of psyche, soul and sticky blues, while'Losing My Mind' is perhaps the apex - a heartfelt vocal slow jam that's made for tears before bed - there's more emotion in the crooning guitars alone here than many vocalists could hope to muster with words.