The Beauty Room.
Vocalist JINADU and producer KIRK DEGIORGIO first collaborated on the AS ONE album 21st Century Soul (Ubiquity Recordings) in 2001. Both have worked mainly in the electronic dance genre recording for a wide range of labels from Mo Wax to Bitches Brew.
The Beauty Room came about through continued collaboration, with Degiorgio sending Jinadu sketches of songs with increasingly unusual progressions. Jinadu worked his magic and returned them enhanced with catchy melodies, hooks galore and layers of rich harmonies.
The Beauty Room marks a notable stylistic shift for both Jinadu and Degiorgio. A debut single a deft adaptation of Jan Hammers classic Dont You Know - was recently released on Parlophone's Vanity Projects offshoot and while it may have been a typically teasing Degiorgio hors doeuvre, its in the shape of a self titled album that the Beauty Room present their full, lavish feast.
Opener Soul Horizon sets the tone; its lulling acoustic guitar intro presaging a phalanx of Jinadu harmonies which usher in a melodic reverie of a song that could be a gently billowing outtake from the first Crosby Stills and Nash album. Its a languorous intoxication that continues as the album gathers its own mellow pace. Everywhere, Jinadus harmonies weave, glide and plunge around the rippling guitars of (fellow Peacefrog artist) Ian O'Brien, marble smooth keyboards courtesy of Thomas O'Grady, Chris Whitten's crisp but discretely funky drums and Degiorgio's babbling electronic undercurrents.
Holding On is a deft, soulful Fender Rhodes ballad, with a chorus that sticks like superglue; The Weight Of The World nods to The Beach Boys at their most transcendent, while Shades Of Yesterday, with Degiorgio adroitly taking care of vocal duties, is an intimate, hypnotic confessional, with a redemptive, string-caressed refrain. Fortress, meanwhile, could very nearly be a Coldplay ballad albeit it a spectacularly sensitive one.
Theres an undeniable sense of timeless urban sophistication at play here. Indeed, this album most readily brings to mind those high priests of the cerebral groove, Steely Dan. What The Beauty Room achieve here is a similar blend of sharp-creased strut and spiritual meditation, all of it laced with plenty of that most essential yet indefinable alchemical element, soul.
Fans of singer/songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and the whole late sixties/early seventies West Coast scene, should also be hastily marshalled toward this beguiling distillation of downtempo eloquence, for while the overall mood is smooth and mellifluous, this is by no means lightweight music far from it. There are lyrical stones tossed into the millpond tranquillity of a track like the string-propelled Burn My Bridges (I retreat to your agenda/my resistance confounded) or the beguiling Visions of Joy ("Sometimes youll try to tear off your disguise, revealing something new / The image you once loved, the lies you thought you knew."), proving that while this is undoubtedly music to chill to, its certainly not aimed at those with either heart or brain in the deep freeze.
Warm, human and - as youll have guessed form Degiorgio and Jinadu's chosen band moniker - spaciously beautiful, The Beauty Room will take you on a journey past wonderfully familiar landmarks to a place youve never quite been before.
With a live BBC Radio 1 session and powerful debut gig at London's Cargo already behind them, The Beauty Room are as accomplished in concert as they are in the studio.
Their self-titled debut album is due for release through Peacefrog on September 4th 2006. With a single comprising of Holding On/Soul Horizon due in August.
Check www.thebeautyroom.mu website for more details on release dates and full band biog, more audio clips, gig news, etc.
The Beauty Room - Live at the Big Chill Festival - August 2006. (Photos: Dave Colbran)
Q MAGAZINE - REVIEW September 2006 Issue
**** 4 Stars Q Recommends
".The Beauty Room, with its multi-layered vocals, soaring melodies, rueful lyrics,
insistent hooks and peculiarly uplifting sense of well-being is a record of genuine, yes, beauty. An amalgamation of a surf-free Beach Boys, a less noodly Talk Talk and a warm bath, The Beauty Room luxuriate in their many gifts."
DMC UPDATE - SINGLE REVIEW 09-08-06 Issue
Holding On/Soul Horizon
".lush, romantic Rotary Connection type psychedelic soul.beautiful played, sung and produced" 4/5
