#decosta boyce

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A crispy American hot with all the toppings please …

Decosta Boyce brought all the American soul and funk flavours of his debut album Electrick Soul to Pizza Express Holborn, plus some tasty sides as well.

The slow funky groove of Outro allowed the band to introduce themselves one by one: led off by the crisp drumming of Winston Marche and Marcus Porter’s rounded minimalist bass, they were joined by Keeling Lee’s choppy Strat rhythm-cum-noodling, trenchant clavinet from Joseph Erber, and Rico Garofalo’s flaring furry sax. Finally Decosta (together with Izzy Warner on bvs) entered to launch his Electrick Soul manifesto in a clear high falsetto, opening two sets inspired by classic 60s/70s soul with a sprinkling of modern influences.

Typifying the sunny 70s vibe were the light and breezy Place I’ve Made with its splash of gospel in the chorus, a playful Jackson-5-flavoured I’d Do Anything and the snare-driven, good-time Do It For You with zingy fuzzy Isley Bros guitar lines and sky-scraping high vox from Decosta. A deft touch with head-bobbing funk was shown in the tight drum-and-bass pulse of Good Music, propelled by Nile Rodgersy chiming guitar and a Lettucesque punchy horn moto perpetuo topped with Decosta’s proto-rapping, in the gutsy Wild Cherry-style bass-led louche swagger of Givi2me, and in an impressive strutting cover of Prince’s Kiss.

Covers of a couple of other big names, some forty years apart, showed Decosta’s range: a (pre-watershed) take on D’angelo’s Left & Right featured a sensuous three-way coda between Rico’s sax and the increasingly steamy voices of Izzy and Decosta (with a rafter-rattling closing scream!) and the urgent closing canter through James Brown’s I Got The Feelin’ with Decosta and Izzy gleefully trading lines as well solo spots for the whole band.

Two Decosta originals also ranged more widely stylistically: London’s Burning (from Decosta’s earlier Freakonomics incarnation) was brassy Marleyish reggae, Decosta’s taut high vocal a close facsimile of Bob’s, while Don’t Go (Across The River) was a classic Sam Cooke-meets-The-Righteous-Brothers slow soul waltz tinged with mournful gospel stylings, lovely churchy organ, sweet southern guitar and Izzy adding fabulous “oohs”, “aaahs" and harmonies and a bravura vocal acrobatic finish.

Particular highlights for Plunger were I Can Already Tell’s slinky Steely Dan-like (sonically and lyrically) dark wry tale of sex and regret, the NYC playground rhyme No Holding Back, with excellent keys (gritty clavinet and jazzy piano) and a cracking vox-and-sax unison scat, and an epic cover of Funkadelic’s instrumental Maggot Brain with rolling cymbal breakers, soaring singing guitar lines intertwined with discursive expressive sax and atmospheric Fender Rhodes piano.

Decosta’s warm and open interactions quickly got the almost sell out house on side, with crowd choir singalong demanded and received on several occasions (Plunger included) and an everybody-on-their-feet final round of participation of “Baby, baby baby!” to close out a night showing stylish and inventive homegrown funk and soul is every bit as yummy as the imported brand.

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Decosta Boyce does it for Plunger…

... There was an air of easy going family party down at 229 the venue for the launch of Decosta Boyce’s excellent album Electrick Soul [drooled over earlier by Plunger here: https://tmblr.co/Zc96bk2MQKRTg ]. A good-sized crowd of the Hertfordshire Massive turned out to enjoy a full run through of the album, deftly handled by Decosta backed by a full seven-piece band.

The deep slinky groove of Intro heralded Decosta’s entry to the stage giving him time to warm up his fabulous falsetto, and ditch his shades (“Agh, I can’t see!”) before launching into his current single Place I’ve Made, given added gospelly soul feel by the fantastic backing vocals of Stephanie Sounds and Sara Louise. 

Those bvs were key to the stunning high-multi-part harmonies on the soulful Don’t Go (Across The River) particularly when shadowed just by swirly Hammond in the closing passage, and in the Fender Rhodes-backed smooth soul of I’d Do Anything, with its lush horn textures, and sweet trumpet break from Mark Perry. There was more fluid trumpet in the extended close to the stylish Danesque groove of I Can Already Tell, while No Holding Back included Plunger’s favourite killer sax-and-vocal unison scat, as well as a fine sax solo fromRico Garofalo.

Don’t Hurt My Feelings was given a grittier feel than on the album, with smoky organ and Sam Odiwe’s funky bass runs, and a punchy drum-and-bass pulse propelled Good Music, with its slick vocal harmonies, choppy Chic rhythm guitar and staccato horn interjections supporting Decosta’s incredible high vocal, before a very effective vocoder and piano only close.

Bringing the night to a close were the Dan-meets-heatwave Givi2me, a head-bobbing bass-led lope that allowed both Winston Marche (on drums) and Dre Day (percussion) a chance to shine with solo spots, and the breezy Do It For You with a burst of lovely southern-fried guitar from Keeling Lee and a clever a cappella coda with Decosta working a tongue in cheek sales pitch into the regular lyrics.

That kind of humour and his open interactions only heightened the party atmosphere: Decosta was keen throughout to engage the crowd in singing along, and they didn’t disappoint him, adding lusty contributions to several numbers. And if like any party the chat levels got a bit out of hand occasionally that didn’t detract from a display proving Decosta Boyce has just as much sophistication, invention and wit live as on record. That does it for us.

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It might be more like November outside…

… but don’t worry, Decosta Boyce has bottled summer for you in this excellent not-quite-debut release.

At a time when so much popular music seems to be churned out to some focus group-constructed depressingly dumbed-down formula, Decosta brings sophistication, invention and wit to a form that hasn’t seen a lot of that lately. As is evident right from the off, as the deceptively simple hip-hop piano-and-beats of Intro are overlaid with Beatlesesque levels of symphonic, multi-layered vocal and Decosta’s killer falsetto.

The bouncy, opening fuzz-riff and Caribbean sun-drenched feel of Place I’ve Made is reminiscent of the Jackson 5’s light-hearted glory days, while the moody slinky Don’t Hurt My Feelings hints at the darker Billie Jean-corners of MJ’s work. There’s even a hint of MJ’s boyish, clear vocal in Don’t Go (Across The River), a vintage Sam Cooke-style blue-tinged soul with churchy organ and lush harmonies.

I’d Do Anything is a light and spacious David Dundas-meets-Heatwave love song, conjuring lazing with your lady on Central Park’s Sheep Meadow: sweet horn textures and crisp metronomic drums are picked out with some loose discursive trumpet and back-tracked guitar.

There’s gutsy Stevie Wonder clavinet-led funk in Givi2me, with lovely liquid fusion bass lines, while Do It For You is a fun-in-the-sun anthem that could be the Doobies or the Isleys, particularly in the great fuzzy sustain guitar solo.

Old school synths and punchy horns propel the funky strut of Good Music, Decosta’s Prince-like manifesto for the revival of real music, embellished with more intricately textured harmony vocals horns and guitar.

Particular Plunger faves both have the tang of West Coast sophistication: No Holding Back offsets the playground-chant chorus against stylish Steely Dan arrangements and includes a fantastic vox-alto sax unison scat, a fine sax solo and space age vocal effects in the deconstructed coda; and there’s more Danesque slinkiness and wry lyrics in the cautionary tale of I Can Already Tell.

In the absence of what passes for summer in Britain at the moment, do yourself a favour and get Electrick Soul in your ears: it might not get you a tan, but it’ll brighten up your day!

Electrick Soul will be released 18th August via Vintedge Records The first single Place I’ve Made is available for download/streaming 9th June on Amazon, iTunes, Google and all that modern stuff…