Label: Cosmocities
Cat: CMSR015
Format: Vinyl & Digital
Genre: Deep House / Soulful House / Detroit
Release Date: 10th May 2024
Following in the footsteps of the longed-for 2021 reissue of their seminal EP, ‘It’s The Life’, Detroit’s very own guild of disco wizards Billy Lo – alias Billy Love, Darryl Tiggs and Darren Abrams – return to Cosmocities with their first album, ‘Billy Lo’. A flavorful bomb of soulful Motown aromas, Paradise Garage-esque suavity and shuffling house rhythms brought to a hedonistic simmer, the trio’s latest packs the kind of debonair charm and infectious funk that shall make as much damage on the dance floor as it will in the alcove.
The A-side starts off with ‘Pain’, a slice of satin-smooth house churn in true Detroit house style that engineers a fine euphony of classic piano twinkle, morning workout programming, stealth bass manoeuvres and shrill strings. The perfect scenery for Billy Love’s vocals to bloom in all their swinging sensuality. True to its name, the all-instrumental ‘Chill’ goes a further bass and drums-blazing route, all in generous synth sines and ovoid bounce, whereas ‘Let Ur Body Werk’ unfolds as a spirited, Afrofunk-tinged chugger bound for tireless boogie, focussing on Love’s hypnotic vocal hoodoo, sturdy bass traction and a feast of incendiary congas sure to whip up the attendance into a frenzy at any time of the day.
Flip it over and here’s the B-side up with some intoxicating jazz business for the late hours. Dishing out a fiery combo of space-discoid slap bass, sun-bleached piano chords and heavily filtered loops, ’Sho Me Ur Love’ is juicy entanglement in a bottle. All in slowed-down voluptuousness, the loungey bop number ‘Flavors’ reels out like a washed-out dream, vaporous and lush as it gets. Topping off the journey on a hi-NRG spin, ‘Do Ur Thang’ pulls out a playful collage of heavy-duty bass propulsion, obsessive synth motifs and ebullient pep talk sure to have you going hard all night long.
