A long-term friendship which slowly evolved into a creative partnership, the seeds were sown on Dickson’s 2016 solo debut Ft. on the track "Josephine Baker," a prime piece of glitter dusted heartbreak disco, the trigger point for this album. Dickson has an ear for detail and a skill to make intricate music without it sounding overly fussy, and here that approach fits McAlmont's effusive vocal like a glove.
That said, it’s kitchen sinks for the opening title-track, dramatic Bollywood strings soar elegantly against low-paced disco beats and funk influenced bass. The melodic sparkle of an Omnichord, and Mcalmont in full diva mode evokes images of velvet ropes, jewel encrusted ball gowns and dramatic stage spotlights enveloping Shirley belting out "Diamonds are Forever."
The Bollywood strings are used at regular points on the album and really add a unique quality, particularly on closer "Aurora (Parts 1 & 2)," where Dickson really digs into his expansive box of tricks. Strings fly which Mcalmont’s unmistakable falsetto follow, full of intricate sound sculptures which make the ears fizz with pleasure. The result is a through the looking glass excursion into the kind of psychedelic soul you're used to coming from Tame Impala or Mercury Rev.
Elsewhere they tap into pop music effectively, "Fever," a highlight where the realisation they’re making something great is fully audible, there’s a confident swagger here, and a chorus some artists would pay serious coin for. Equally as pop – "Hurricanes," is much more robust, driven by Bonham powered percussion and McAlmont lowering the octave, casually dropping earworms like confetti and capturing the imagination with the opening line "Edge and sauce and jizz in the jacuzzi."
Dickson channels his stature in clubland on the euphoric electro-disco jam "All In the World." Naggy and driving, it's torn up with an electrifying synth riff which triggers feelings of joy, while on the slow bounce of "Diamond Dust" McAlmont twists his chords to deliver an excellent Patois vocal which you never knew you needed. The centre-piece is arguably "The Skin I'm In," a powerful piece of political soul which muses on the black experience post the murder of George Floyd, the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of worldwide fascism.
By disassociating the music and focusing on the words, the phrasing and delivery sounds more like a think-piece or poem, almost Gil Scott Heron-like, and is incredibly compelling. Opening with “I lie awake at night cos I listened to a guy theorise about the rise of the Reich” and closing in sweeping falsetto "They don't believe, I can't breathe / All they see, is the skin I'm in / If All Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter,” this and everything in between is passionately despairing, explicitly delivered with emotional rawness.
