Shawn Lee and Clutchy Hopkins are back with a brand new batch of collaborative tracks in their new album Fascinating Fingers. Still unknown to us is Hopkins but we can tell you Lee and Hopkins are not the same person.

Fascinating Fingers opens with ‘70mph Isn’t Fast Enough To Get Out Of Nebraska’, which has a heavily laden intro of stings. This then turns funky with a cool beat with strings running heavily throughout. Certainly a good tune to kick the album off with.

‘7 Inch’ is very sonic and synth based with an ubercool beat in the background. There is a somewhat sinister feel to this jam. I like it.

‘Mimi Tatonka’ has more of an upbeat melody, which turns a little dark once the strings enter. This is a dark, smooth provocative track almost like a James Bond soundtrack.

The Superimposers feature on the vocals for ‘Root Trees’, which take it on a mellow slant. Halfway through this tune we go down tempo and dark but no worries it soon picks up and comes crashing back to full force.

‘Cross Rhodes’ is a real mellow and sophisticated track to get your teeth into. The slow beat is matched with the lightness of the synthed keyboards. This is a melt into the chair kind of song.

I have to say the opening of ‘Chapter 2’ is quite freaky with an off key scratchy violin. This is a very dark and edgy track but the more I hear it the more it grows on me.

The beat in ‘Ancient Chinese Secret’ is clean cut and strong. This is an endearing jam, which leaves you wanting more. I love the sound of the sitar used as it gives it that worldly feel.

‘Fish Sauce’ is a cheeky little number, which has a Latino feel about it with the handclaps and brass in the background. This is a good tune to get your feet moving to.

Slower paced is ‘Name Game’. This is cool with its smooth bass, percussion and synth sounds. The keyboard is extremely high pitched but this just adds more coolness about it.

‘Bootie Beat’ opens with some serious bass and drums with percussion. The keyboard enters repeating the tune of the bass. This is serious funk and would de-stress anyone after a hard week at work.

‘Willie Groovemaker’ is upbeat with a serious groovy electric guitar. This goes down tempo, which turns a little dark before returning to its original upbeat tempo on the guitar.

The finale to this funky album is ‘What More Can I Say’ which is a chilled track. It’s very floaty and I love the rawness of the guitar. There is a little bit of a French feel to this song. What a great tune to end on.

Lee and Hopkins have done a great job on this album. It sounds to me like a cat on the prowl down dark alleyways, who is a smooth operator.

I think the secret to such a good album is the simplicity to the tracks, they are never over the top, and everything is kept in order so the emotion can shine through to its listeners.

9

Helena Rea