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Ms Gardiner is from Uppsala (Swedish mother, father from Ghana) and after many years singing soul, jazz and funk, her debut 12” was released on 4Lux in 2003 (worth noting it one of our favourites Flowriders on the remix). A couple more well received 12s and teaming up with producer RMJC her debut album, Natalie Gardiner came out in 2004.

Compared to Sade, Stephanie McKay (who we loved when she was on tour with Amp Fiddler) and Lizz (‘When I See Love’) Fields, she has worked with nu-jazz soulsters like Dutch producer Gerd and Finland’s DJ Slow.

She and RMJC and got working on the tracks for California in 2006 and it is going to surprise some folks. Looking for hip-hop, nu-jazz, broken, R&B? Well, it’s all here immersed deep below layers of beautiful sultry soul. This is almost downtempo version of Break Reform it’s so laid back.

The opening tracks, ‘Summer Rain’ and ‘On The Low’ set the tone but the killer is ‘Slowly Softly’ featuring the Metallophon of Björn Ehlers.

The album ends with the ballad ‘Honey’ with only acoustic guitar accompaniment so it’s the most folksy of the set but none are particularly fast; ‘Driftin” is about the closest with a nu-folk-jazz broken beat. But speed isn’t the thing here; you need to get into a relaxed frame of mind that is capable of driftin’ away. Or appreciating the gospel/blues of ‘Lonely Coming Home’, the most jazzy, ‘Let’s Not Worry About Tomorrow’ or other potential singles ‘Come Find Me Again’ and ‘Fading Hours’.

Natalie has one of those voices and it Peterson doesn’t get her in for one of his Maida Vale sessions, I’ll be amazed.

Reviewed: Natalie Gardiner - California (RAMJAC) Cat. No. RAM009 CD Release date: 25th February 2008
Tracklisting:
1 Summer Rain (3:40)
2 On The Low (3:11)
3 Slowly Softly (4:02)
4 Bittersweet (1:47)
5 Come Find Me Again (3:31)
6 Fading Hours (4:22)
7 Let’s Not Worry About Tomorrow (3:07) Per Ruskträsk Johansson (tenor sax), Goran Kajfes (trumpet)
8 Lonely Coming Home (2:22)
9 Driftin’ (4:05)
10 Don’t Mean A Thing (3:12) Björn Ehlers (metallophon)
11 Honey (2:07)
Written by RMJC with Vocals by Natalie Gardiner
Bass - Thobias Gabrielson (tracks: 1, 5, 7, 9, 10)
Rhodes Piano - Christer Karlsson (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
Guitar - Björn Ehlers (tracks: 5, 9 to 11)
Percussion - Måns Block (tracks: 3, 4, 6, 10)
Recorded in the Crypt 2007

Links
www.myspace.com/nataliegardinermusic
Gilles Peterson :: Tracklisting 10/10/04 :: Bjork In Session
16) Natalie Gardiner - ‘Down On Me’ (Ramjac)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana