The demo white label version was doing the rounds of a very limited selection of DJs towards the end of last year. Gilles Peterson had it of course and was an instant hit after he played it on his show and it made the All-winners. After the long wait, finally, the finished version has been released on Peacefrog and was worth the wait.

Peacefrog are known more for their Detroit tech-house catalogue than anything else so it's a little of a surprise that Recloose (aka Matt Chicoine), a protégé of Carl Craig, has jumped ships from Craig's own Plant E label. So is his first Peacefrog release techno? Oh no. There's a lot of stuff in this one such as the usual funk, Afro beat, dub, house and broken influences. But it's the 'pop' lyrics that set this one apart. Written by Chicoine and Fat Freddy's Drop's Joe Dukie, it's Dukie on vocals and the opening verse goes:

"I wanna be forever on your mind
So you think about me all the time
I'll leave dust in your eyes
And take your hand when you're blind"

And later on, when joined by Hollie Smith on backing vocal soul diva duty:

"I want you to want me like a flower needs the rain
I want you to want me keep you coming back again and again
I want you to want me to help to ease the pain, yeah
I want you [repeat]"

Combined with the afro-beat guitar riff (Mike Fabulous), baritone sax breaks (Daniel Yeabsley), twiddley keyboards, some serious conga (Andreas Lepper), a little dose of Detroitness and tenor sax credited as Coleman Squakinz (oh really!) it is very catchy. I don't want to put you off, but if Level 42 kept on an exponential production curve from the 80s, this could be what they would be doing today.

The cover is a photograph of a hand holding a flower with large yellow stamen that's been painted green, intriguing.

You might have trouble getting this already as it's very popular. Seriously soul-to-broken dance floor track that's party made. Come back again and again.

Reviewed: CD PFG063CD Recloose feat. Joe Dukie, 'Dust' – Main Mix, Demo Mix, Radio Edit.

Links:
Hear it on the BBC's Collective
www.peacefrog.com 12" promo - PFG063X, 12" - PFG063, CD Released April 2005
Gilles Peterson Tracklisting 24/06/04 & 14/11/04 :: Worldwide Winners
Fat Freddy's Drop : 'Based On A True Story' Out Soon.