str4ta: str4tasfear
Francisco Espregueira
Following up on the critically acclaimed Aspects album, released last year, Gilles Peterson and Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick are back with the sophomore record on their STR4TA project. STR4TASFEAR is a spacey funk oddyssey through 15 tracks, melodies and grooves that sit perfectly in the brand new music world it’s part of. Connecting over Peterson duties as a musical explorer, DJ and broadcaster and Bluey’s output via Incognito - one of the essential groups of an oft-overlooked, vital pocket of Black British musical history -, they hail essentially from the same scene.
For STR4TASFEAR, the duo got like-minded souls along to join the party, connecting legacy with a new generation of innovators on the music scene. As a core concept of the album, nostalgic reflection meets a pivotal desire to celebrate the present moment, expressed through key features on the record. Omar, Valerie Etienne, Theo Croker, Emma-Jean Thackray, Anushka, Peter Hinds add up to the whole groove of this album. Over almost an hour, we’re able to enjoy once again the duo’s immaculate production work, with Gilles Peterson as executive producer, sonically enriching the production process with his extensive and encyclopaedic knowledge from Brit-funk and Electro-soul; and feeding the creative flow, the highly acclaimed musician and producer Jean Paul “Bluey” Maunick. STR4TASFEAR is available on digital, CD & 12" vinyl LP formats with a special edition white 12" LP on 11th November 2022 released via Brownswood Recordings.