A touch of magic in 'Nothing To Lose'

By Juno Records. Read the full story here.

REVIEW

It appears that the team at Tru Thoughts are back to their brilliant best as they unveil this soulful original from Pieces Of A Man, combining almost gospel style choir vocals with a stunning lead vocal line for a touch of magic in ‘Nothing To Lose’. With the rise in future soul and similar genres becoming more and more apparent, organic bangers such as this are sure to cut through the crowd with ease. To top it all off, this one comes complete with a delicious rolling remix from the legendary Zed Bias, adding a perfect contrast to the original recording, along with both instrumental versions and an acapella on top!

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After Kanye West’s performance at Coachella, perhaps, this is what Sheldon Pearce at Pitchfork believes it should have felt/sounded more like

By Richardine Bartee. Read the full story here.

After reading the new Pitchfork piece about Kanye West’s performance at Coachella, perhaps, this is what Sheldon Pearce at Pitchfork believes it should have felt/sounded more like, who knows? It’s quite literally the first thing that popped up in my mind when listening to Pieces of a Man’s powerful ‘Nothing to Lose’. It’s from the British musical group’s upcoming album, ‘Made in Pieces’ out in July.

Acting as a psalm to victims of prejudice, the song is inspired by the memory of Trayvon Martin and the wider Black Lives Matter movement, the outcome of the EU referendum and Trump’s journey to the White House. In the band’s words, ‘The verses really pick up on the idea that we do have nothing to lose except our identity and passion, and that we should have a loose grip on the material wealth that surrounds us.’

 

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Nothing To Lose (Part 1) Released

“Nothing To Lose” is the debut single from Manchester six-strong soul collective and Tru Thoughts newest signee, Pieces of a Man. Pushing the sonic boundaries of a conventional soul band, Pieces of a Man create immersive textured soundscapes, built with elements of hip-hop, funk, R&B, gospel choirs and neo-soul.

Produced by legendary mastermind Zed Bias AKA Maddslinky – who hailed it as “one of his favourite tracks ever” – “Nothing To Lose” is the meeting of smooth R&B instrumentation and anthemic gospel, with a hook that elevates the song to the heavens. Cited by the band as one of the most “soul-affirming recording sessions of their career”, the track features a wealth of talent including Harleighblu, Misha B, Amp Fiddler, Tyler Daley (from Children of Zeus), Andrew and Eloise Bridge — true Manchester gospel and R&B veterans, and up-and-coming Mancunian talent, Penny Nicholls.

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Tru Thoughts // Meet our latest signing Pieces of a Man

Though born from the emerging soul scene in Manchester, Pieces of a Man are by no means a local act – with influences stretching across the globe and deep into the musical archives. From gospel and choral soundscapes to neo-soul, French house and alt rock, there are no limits to the influences that form their sonic output.

Manchester six-strong soul collective Pieces of a Man electronically manipulate and push the sonic boundaries of a conventional soul band. Raised on cross-genred musical diets from gospel (Ron Kenoly, Israel Houghton) through early jazz-funk (Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock) and beyond, POAM take influence from more modern soul inspirations (D’Angelo, Dwele, Jill Scott) to create immersive, textured soundscapes built with hip-hop, funk and neo-soul.
Having chosen their name after hearing the news of the death of the Chicago jazz-poet and bluesologist on the radio, Pieces of a Man pay homage to the debut album by Gil Scott-Heron. Beyond this, the project is also an encompassment of the brokenness and recuperation that both artists reflect.

With the critical foundations of a soul band, the six-piece is comprised of Pils (Illya Gosling) on keyboards/sax, Mark Parkinson on guitar, Tim Curry on bass, and Aden Peets on drums and beats. The group break away from the norm with lead singer and synth player To!u A¡ayi introducing a flavour of Busy P and Ed Banger-esque touch of talkbox and vocoder into their sonic output, while DK (David Klein) manipulates sounds and effects in real-time with Ableton – and is the creator of the group’s visual output via video, graphics and photography.

Their debut single on Tru Thoughts ’Nothing To Lose’ is due for release on the 17th April

Pieces of a Man will be performing at The Soundcrash Funk & Soul Weekender in Brighton on the 18th May https://www.funkandsoulweekender.com/line-up/

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