Joe Goddard has been thinking about thinking. For the past few years, the producer, songwriter, and all-round polymath of UK dance and indie music has been trying to get more in touch with his own intuition. “This idea of trying to divorce your conscious mind from the music-making process – not trying to force meaning on the music or your collaborators, allowing that process to be very empathetic.”
The wonderful result is his third solo album Harmonics; set for release on July 12th, it is a record rooted in instinct and empathy. Across 14 tracks of left-of-centre dance music – touching on UK garage, house, hip-hop, pop, and disco – Goddard opens the floor for a number of collaborators. The voice of Ibibio Sound Machine’s Eno Williams rides the afro-house groove of “Progress”, while starry-eyed boom-bap track “When Love’s Out of Fashion” features UK rapper Oranje. Former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe lends his uniquely expressive vocal to the low-slung house of “Summon”, and Joe’s Hot Chip bandmates Alexis Taylor and Al Doyle both appear on the gleaming half-step ballad “Heal Your Mind”. Other guests on Harmonics include Tom McFarland of the London dance-pop group Jungle, Bronx-raised singer Fiorious (on recent single “New World (Flow)”), Guinean vocalist Falle Nioke, and UK jazz musician Alabaster DePlume.
Tracklist:
1. Moments Die featuring Barrie
2. Progress featuring Ibibio Sound Machine
3. Destiny featuring Findia 4. New World (Flow) featuring Fiorious
5. When Love’s Out Of Fashion featuring Oranje
6. Follow You
7. On My Mind
8. Summon featuring Hayden Thorpe
9. When You Call featuring Findia
10. Out At Night
11. Mountains featuring Alexis Taylor and Al Doyle
12. Ghosts featuring Tom McFarland
13. Miles Away featuring Falle Nioke
14. Revery featuring Alabaster DePlume