Sophie Barker ‘Seagull’

As you’d expect from the writer and singer behind Zero 7 this album’s a classy mix of (mainly) chilled out "happy sad" tunes, relying heavily on Barker’s breathy, smoke tinged vocals. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a Sunday morning in bed with the papers or a late night lounge on the sofa after a hard day at whatever soul sapping job you're forced to whore yourself out to. Listen to it and you can just feel the bullshit fade away. As with a lot of chilled out music it can tend to wash over you a little (no bad thing sometimes)which is what makes the album’s standout track, ‘Bluebell,’ such an unexpectedly groovy treat. Over a stabbing bed of dirty wah wah guitar Sophie waxes lyrical about the love of her life before the Philly horn driven chorus explodes all over us like one giant funkgasm. Glorious. That’ll wake up the neighbours on Sunday morning...

Seagull is out on 9th May on Ho Hum Records.