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Brotherly are a showcase for the exceptional talents of Rob Mullarkey (also see Trust) and his partner Anna Stubbs. You may remember he was the bassist for 2 Banks Of 4, Zero 7 and TY but he’s not just on the bass here. He also plays all the guitars, keyboards, synthesisers and does the drum programming. The other half, Anna Stubbs is yet another female singing star we need to watch along with Deborah Jordan, Julia Biel, Bembé Segué, Mpho Skeef and Corinne Bailey Rae.

In Straight No Chaser’s introduction to their ‘Sirens Of Soul’ feature, these girls were billed as the next wave to follow the footsteps of Terri Walker (new album review, I Am) and Eska Msutungwazi. Eska joined in Brotherly’s debut 12”, ‘Pull It Out’ which came out late last year and with all that sythn work going on, it was a track ‘made’ for a Bugz In The Attic remix. No disrespect lads (and looking forward to the Big Chill Festival gig), but I think I prefer the original version on the album which hopefully is coming out soon…

And Brotherly have been busy since the turn of the year, following on from their Peterson session and tonight (1st April) the ‘live’ 9-piece band version are performing at London’s famous Jazz Café with Eska and one of the voices of The Heritage Orchestra, Natalie Williams.

They claim that they are pushing the boundaries of nu-jazz, broken beat, urban music — and to my ears, it’s a fair call.

‘Put It Out’ has got the African influence whilst you’ve got the soulful vocals on ‘Show Me Yourself’ with a broken beat and some spacey keyboards going on in the background. And then ‘A Little Trouble’ takes all that and throws in some George Duke fusion style keys which is just asking for Hectic trouble. This version is so much better than the Peterson session, you’re in for a shock.

Not sure about the lyrics to ‘Searching’ or the disco(?) references but the space ride on the keys is good again and would you believe it, ‘Elevate’ has got a feel of Zappa’s ‘I Am The Slime’ at a gospel funk choir of Amp Fiddler? And whilst we’re on the 70s influence, ‘Super-Sensory’ is a modern day jazz-funker in the ‘area’ of Mike Post with some serious bass’n’shuffle to it. Equally atmospheric and left of centre percussive, ‘Rain Down’ is another good one.

Like I say, you might think you know what Brotherly are all about, but they’ve got a bit more to them than [their phrase], “repetitive tracks knocked up on a rainy afternoon with an MPC and throw-away vocal”. There’s certainly nothing throw away about Anna and with most tracks over six minutes long, you can almost feel the effort that’s gone into them. I think you’ll be hearing much more of Brotherly in the future and certainly should consider adding the album to your collection when it comes out.

Reviewed: Brotherly - Promo (CDr)
1. Show Me Yourself (6:21)
2. Put It Out (5:58)
3. A Little Trouble (7:35)
4. Searching (7:28)
5. Super-Sensory (6:15)
6. Elevate (6:25)
7. Go (4:18)
8. Rain Down (6:14)
9. What Your Gonna Do? (6:22)

Links:
www.brotherly-music.com
www.myspace.com/brotherly
Interview with Rob on basic-soul (Marc Kets left4dead@gmail.com Nov 2005)
Gilles Peterson: Tracklisting 22/1/06 :Brotherly Live in Session
17) Brotherly - ‘Trouble’ (Live In Session)
18) Brotherly Feat Earl Zinger - ‘Elevate’ (Live In Session)
19) Brotherly - ‘Put It Out’ (Live In Session)