Amanda Easton - Disco Disconnected - Independent release

I’ve been following Amanda’s work for a long time now and am impressed by how much it has grown over the years. So I was quite excited to hear, three years after I wrote about her Out Of The Blue crowd-funded project, that she had a new record in the offing.

Amanda calls it an album, but with four new tracks and a remix of each of them, it is probably more an EP. Whatever you want to call it, Disco Disconnected hits all manner of outlets at the end of the month. Apart from the influence-artists’ weaving their influence throughout, I got a sense of some late-90s Kylie with other sonic echoes in the mix.

The lead / title track has quite the Eastern flavour while encapsulating many of the eras of disco including Bros of the 80s (I also got this from the music-video), Massive Attack / Portishead of the 90s, and Goldfrapp of the 00s. An Alison Goldfrapp song recently appeared on my MP3 player and I could have sworn it was Amanda. I said as much to Amanda at the time and her response was that Goldfrapp is one of her favourite acts. That comes as no surprise when listening to Disco, or any of her previous works including Dance To The Music In My Head, Moshi Moshi, Good Old Fashioned Heartache or The Whole Shebang.   

The disconnection from disco continues on the new mini/album / EP with the chill-out of Untangle and the Bond Film outro-credits underscore Hanging By A Thread. Thread is a mix of Shirley Bassey on Goldfinger and Cilla Black in To Sir With Love combined with a nice cello. This isn’t Amanda’s first foray into Bondesque either! New Bohemians harkens back to Amanda’s previous works with some production-quality effects thrown in to keep us on our toes. This track is also getting a lot of “air” time on Amanda’s soundcloud, described by one subscriber as a “bouncy, happy, positive song.” Thus rounds off the “original mix” part of the record. 

The John Ov3rblast Remix of the single retains the mystic feel of the single but is more ethereal; more chill-out than disco. Untangle’s House Master Flex Remix would be a track you’d play between the disco and the chill-out, or something a relaxing Sunday-afternoon radio programmer would schedule. The No Qualms Remix [Hi Rez] version of Hanging By A Thread is a tilt at Kraftwerk but is another calm-down disconnection. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Amanda as a baritone, here you can! And after all the chillin’ we finish up with some serious DOOV on the New Bohemians Stereo Missile Remix: dance to it, work out to it, sweat to it, turn it up!

Amanda Easton’s Disco Disconnected would sit quite happily alongside any work for or by any of these artists, with any currently featured on so-called top-40 radio, or on alternative radio. I can picture it now- rocking up to my barista for my morning coffee, only to be woken happily by Amanda’s dulcet tones intro’d by Kyle and Jackie O- «««¶

peterg
17Mar16