Joel Sarakula 7” single, ‘Northern Soul’ c/w ‘Children Of A Higher Light’ (Heavy Soul) Out Now!

Is this this the best modern take on the classic '60s Soul sound for many a year?

 

I think so.... Joel has come up with two modern soul classics ' the infectious "Northern Soul" with its driving beat / big piano / strings intro and like all great 60s cuts -it ebbs and flows throughout building up to an electricfyng crescendo.

 

The flip "Children Of A Higher Light" is just as good - I first heard this in it's instrumental form and that blew me away - add vocals and woooah!!! 

 

 

REVIEW FROM JOE MORAN on his blogspot: - 

http://seosaimhm.blogspot.ie/"  

Northern soul is a scene rather than a style of music with as many facets as a master cut diamond, how then do so many bands manage to produce (affectionate) imitations that immediately conjure up images of that northern soul archetype of athletic dancers, all nighters and downright groovy sounds?  

I am not talking about soul folk producing soul music here, rather its tracks that evoke that northern soul club sound. I think it once existed during the Golden age when Northern was shiny and new and still coming up with 100mph stompers like Earl Van Dykes 6x6 or Eddie Parkers Love you Baby and the like. Edwyn Collins got it perfect with his Rock and soul ‘Girl like you’, it shouldn't work really but it does with the chunky driving back beat sounding like something that the denizens of many soul nights would readily associate with.  

It’s not a northern soul song but it sure as hell inhabits the same universe. Joel Sarakula an Aussie based in London with a clutch of releases under his belt give us this absolutely corker of a track that harks back to the Sixties with every fibre of its being. From the opening piano driven opening to the lazy back-beat up to its bridge of insistent rhythm this one has Wigan written large across every note.  

There are so many points of reference here that you will instantly know this song or at least feel like you do. Unlike the Recent John Newman release that used Northern as a backdrop and stood apart, Sarakula’s track gives the impression of having evolved from the scene. As a result it comes across as honest and not jumping on the bandwagon that is northern. Again this is not a northern soul song but you know what? Play this at a music night where there are northern heads attending and I guarantee you will have, if not the feet dancing, the heads nodding and that, my friends, is the height of respect (believe me, I know these things!)".