 As we head for the hazy, lazy days of summer Shiva Records invites you to skinny dip into the hotly-anticipated second long player from everyone's favorite soulful shufflers, Fug. They've called it Procrastinate, and while Procrastination usually leads to delay, we think you'll agree that this is one album well worth waiting for.
If you need a little history lesson, its worth recalling that their first album 'Ready For Us' surfaced on the sadly defunct Nuphonic label, and was rightly acclaimed as one of the highlights of the Nuphonic catalogue, with Jockey Slut calling it "Haagen Daaz for the ears" while high profile fans such as LTJ Bukem, Kylie and Coldplay queued up to pronounce it a nu-soul masterpiece. From there the band launched into a series of stunning remixes including Terry Callier, Salif Keita, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera and The Sugababes, all of which transplanted their deliciously warm vibes into different musical scenarios with predictably fine results.
And so to today and Procrastinate, an album that builds on the Fug foundations while moving ever onwards into pastures new. The musicianship remains exquisite and the production is as seductive as ever, while Jess Williams' voice and lyrical content swoop from the ethereal to the heartbroken and back with sublime ease. Highlights include the slowburning delight that is 'Fall To Rise', the Afro-inflected 'Tickin' Clock', the souljazz swing of 'Break One' and the plaintive piano-led stylings of 'Masters At Warp', with the resulting album being a thing of rare beauty in these dark times. So there we have it. In Procrastinate Fug have created a thoughtful, assured, mature piece of work that will delight lovers of their previous releases while pulling in new fans with its breadth and depth of emotion. As David Byrne once famously sang: "This ain't no movie, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin around" : this is Procrastinate and it rocks...gently.
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