Regular readers will know I’m not one to name drop but, when I was catching up with Kathrin DeBoer (one third of Belleruche) the other day at the Daedelus gig at the Big Chill House), she just happened to mention that the album launch party was coming up and she’s on Aaron Jerome’s new 12”, ‘Misunderstanding’ (from Time To Rearrange).

The other members of Belleruche are guarist Ricky Fabulous and DJ Modest on turntables. Whilst they flirted with Speedy Dom Servini on Wah Wah 45s (see Underground Hits & Exclusive Bits) with ‘Bird Mess’, The Express is their second album for Tru Thoughts.

The album leaves the station (Ed. you can cut that out) with the single ‘Anything You Want (Not That)’ that is the sublime mix of guitar ‘n’ turntable soul that’s Belleruche with the deBoer soft-soul-loud vocal (if the makes sense).

The way Fabulous and Modest combine is nothing less than magical in its way and just to show how hip-hop beats can adapt to the deep southern blues, ‘Backyard’ is an odd-ball track that you just keep on coming back and ‘Goose Blues’ is another.

‘Idea Three’ is a funky one that finds them in similar territory to the Alice Russell / Quantic duopoly of Brighton soulfulness as is ‘Like 4 The Hard Way’.

There’s a bit of a lull in the middle (like when you miss the last train) but boy do they hit back with the atmospheric/moody ‘The Duck’ with Ms de Boer at her seductive peak (nice use of strings for tension building) and arguably saving the best ‘till last with ‘You’re Listening To The Worlds’.

All the tracks are written by the band and they do like a leftfield title which could be off putting if you don’t know how good they are. Katherin justly gets most attention but it’s certainly a team effort and well worth catching on their promotional tour.

Forthcoming Dates
24 Oct 2008 - La Maroquinerie, Paris
28 Oct 2008 - Son’Art, Bordeaux
29 Oct 2008 - Le Phare, Toulouse
30 Oct 2008 - La Marquise, Lyon
31 Oct 2008 - Lausanne, Lausanne
01 Nov 2008 - Bikini Test La Chaux de Fonds
14 Nov 2008 - Audio (early show), Brighton
22 Nov 2008 - Babylon, Istanbul
26 Nov 2008 - Gleiss 22, Munster
27 Nov 2008 - Atomino, Chemnitz
29 Nov 2008 - Puschkin Club, Dresden

Reviewed: Belleruche - The Express (Tru Thoughts) Release date: October 2008
Tracklisting
1. Anything You Want (Not That) (3:20)
2. Backyard (3:13)
3. Idea Three (3:54)
4. Goose Blues (3:49)
5. Like 4 The Hard Way (3:07)
6. Rumble Strip (2:36)
7. How Many Times (3:18)
8. Scratch My Soul (3:33)
9. Late Train (3:21)
10. The Duck (3:08)
11. You’re Listening To The Worlds (3:18)

Press Release :
“Great to have a new record from Belleruche. Taking their sound in a more blues direction and sounding very cool.” - Nick Luscombe (Flomotion)

Links
www.belleruche.com
www.myspace.com/belleruche
www.tru-thoughts.co.uk
The Express Album Launch Party 11 October : Belleruche (Live), Robert Luis (DJ), Plume (Live), Underling (Live) and other delights including burlesque and art installations, with a general rather charming theme of the golden age of rail travel running through the whole event, in keeping to the title of the album - The Vibe Bar 8pm - 3am; all for only £4…See you there!