Anyone with any knowledge of the UK underground house music scene will have heard of Ossie; a more than promising producer with some hefty releases under his belt to boast about; most notably ‘Supercall’ on 2020 Midnight Visions, ‘Tarantula’ on Lightworks, and his ‘Set The Tone‘ and ‘Ignore‘ EPs on Hyperdub. Now, we know what you’re thinking, you’re hyping yourself for Ossie’s usual staggered 4/4 framework, the awakening of contemporary broken beats that we have heard from his two releases on Hyperdub, and we wouldn’t blame you. But hold up real quick. Ossie is not actually ‘alone’ on this new track, he’s joined by Tilz and Paul Black, together making the triumvirate that is Black Orange Juice. Ossie combines with singers and old school friends to take on the admirable challenge of blending his classic Chicago house, UK funky and disco influences with the heart-wrenching sounds of Paul and Tilz’s wonderful soulfulness to create the new single ‘Alone’ from their upcoming ‘3 Started Alone’ EP on True Panther Sounds.
In an interview and mix Ossie supplied for Sonic Router, he described his sounds as a “fusion of everything really, [I] use a lot of percussion and synths, which gives a vintage but current feel. [I] try and have stories or mood in my tunes especially when producing house, and having produced R&B previously helps with build-ups and structuring.“; this nod towards his previous production in R&B is much more apparent on the title track of their upcoming EP compared to last year’s ‘Back of My Car’ EP on Somethinksounds. The sound and general idea of Black Orange Juice could arguably wink towards a comparison to Hercules & Love Affair; although without a constant rotating cast of performers and musicians, the same vocal sort of intent is apparent; it’s completely formed instead of cut and sampled, a fully fledged marriage of electronic and vocal performance (Kele’s feature on the ‘Blue Songs’ being a main example here). We’re not saying these tracks sound similar, we’re just saying that a general similarity in artistic intent could be gathered; but of course, we’ll leave you to make the real decision. Whatever their intent, these boys have come along way since harmonising in the halls of their Roman Catholic comprehensive in East Ham, and with the help of many an after-school session fawning over their dad’s Marvin, Luther and Chic vinyls, it’s not surprising that such silky-smooth and honest tracks have seeped out of these musically talented three.
