LOQUI are a concept band. Rob Paul Chapman, the cane-swirling top-hat-wearing madman in charge conceptualises and elaborately arranges. Precisely played and perfectly recorded stuff emerges, some months later, to gasps of astonishment and glee. Newborn "Hermes Pan" is brim full of breathless incident and romantic adventurism.
Not everyone loves babies, of course. For every squeal of delight in relative X there is a gulp of recoil in acquaintance Y. It's taken as read that LOQUI will not improve everyone's teatime. More Earl Grey than Tetleys, "acquired taste" is the discrete message on the caddy.
The glue-ear hook line "take me dancing" could be the title - but film choreographer Hermes Pan himself takes that accolade. Sturdy Records have issued it as a limited edition single, with a digital download available in the usual infinite quantities. The busy busy main song has a slower, longer (and very good) a cappela version appended and there is a rather grand Northern Soul inspired version of "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" to go with the main tune. A high-value package for sure.
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On the very plus side there is the delight of Chapman's finely engineered writing and arrangement. (The working of "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" is a big winner too). On the minus side, it isn't Nina Simone singing. There's a lightness and an Englishness in the vocal tracks that could do with a bit more beef.
Approach the on-line options and decide for yourself whether you are a lover or a hater. As we have said before, you won't hear anything like this anywhere else.
http://www.loqui.co.uk
http://www.last.fm/music/loqui
http://www.myspace.com/loqui
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