Originally released on the Bar De Lune label ‘Speck of Gold’ sold thousands of copies in its brief one month life-span before the label officially ceased operation.
One World Music picks up the reigns and repackages this highly sought-after CD along with a bonus second disc with some previously unreleased mixes.
Spend an hour or so immersed in the down-tempo splendour of Afterlife’s Speck of Gold - one of music’s best kept secrets. The charmingly horizontal Steve ‘Afterlife’ Miller delivers a fine 17 track opus.
Cathy Battistessa opens proceedings with the title track and fuses her balmy vocals into its minimal electronica. Afterlife favourite Rachael Calladine lends a lenitive chant to ‘Clear Blue Sky’, and then it’s over to the dubby baggy-bubblings of ‘Like Prana’, a track born of Steve’s Reggae/Northern roots. ‘King of Chill’ Chris Coco makes his vocal debut on the lugubrious ‘How Does It Feel’ one of the album’s stand out tracks.
Sub Sub favourite Melanie Williams picks up the tempo adding delicate whispers to ‘Still’, then Angela Neve brings the tempo back down by filtering her crystalline harmonies through ‘Miracle’. The bonus CD takes in remixes from more leftfield luminaries: Christophe Goze re-rubs Dannii Minogue and takes her to new sub-aquatic depths. Chris Coco gets back behind the mixing desk and washes a celestial sheen over ‘Shine’ and ‘Speck of Gold’. Then finally it’s over to Miller’s Ibizian ‘Release Yourself’ chum, Roger Sanchez to round off the mix with his take on ‘Sunrise’
The UKs Radio 1 DJ Chris Coco says "Listening to Afterlife's music is the aural equivalent of a night in a king sized bed with Egyptian cotton sheets in a five star hotel"
"One of the rare down-tempo artists that consistently puts out high quality tracks. I cannot comment highly enough … buy anything he releases/has released to enrich your life in a positive way. Enjoy."
-Paul Lonsdale, Amazon reviewer
"For anyone who likes chilled out beats.... think, Bent, Air, Royksopp, Lazyboy, Chris Coco...... Just as good if not better!"
-Richard Williams, Amazon reviewer |