‘Mercury Rising’ is the third studio album to be released by Rae & Christian. The duo weave together exceptional musicianship paired with a British song writing sensibility and the finest elements of studio production. ‘Mercury Rising’ was created at producer/musician Steve Christian’s studio in Yorkshire with additional recording at songwriter/vocalist/DJ Mark Rae’s London base. In London a song writing bond was formed with Ed Harcourt and Gita Langley who make excellent contributions with vocals, songs, strings and keys. Sam Genders of Diagrams threads a story of redemption lost on the Ubahn on ‘1975’, Kate Rogers is on imperious form and rising star Jake Emlyn unravels a whole new level of microphone skills on ‘Favourite Game’.
The international guests include the one-and-only Jazzy Jeff and Australia’s Agent 86 dealing out world class scratch treatments on ‘Check The Technique’ (Tony D's vocals taken from a session recorded at the birth of Grand Central Records), Brooklyn rapper Masta Ace and Mark Foster of Foster The People, a collaboration born from Mark’s L.A. excursion.
‘Mercury Rising’ is the first new material in many years from R&C. Their 1998 Mercury Music Prize nominated debut ‘Northern Sulphuric Soul’ ("Vitally fresh and timelessly classic…deserving a place alongside Massive Attack's Blue Lines” Uncut) and 2002’s ‘Sleepwalking’ ("Another triumph, brimming with soulful, languid grooves, deft samples and well-chosen guest singers” Q Magazine) were both released on their Grand Central Records label (Aim, Riton, Boca 45, Only Child), a defining imprint of the late 90s soul/funk/hip-hop/beats scene. Guest vocalists over the two albums included Bobby Womack, Texas, The Congos, The Pharcyde, The Jungle Brothes and Jeru The Damaja.
credits
released October 18, 2013
Arranged By [String Arrangements] – Steve Christian
Backing Vocals – Gita Langley (tracks: 3, 10, 11), Kate Rogers (tracks: 5), Mark Rae (tracks: 3, 10, ), Rioghnach Connolly (tracks: 6)
Drums – Josh Van Tassel (tracks: 8)
Drums [Live] – Shawn Lee (tracks: 2)
Engineer – Steve Christian
Instruments – Steve Christian
Lead Vocals [Additional] – Ed Harcourt (tracks: 11)
Mastered By – Miles Showell
Mixed By – Steve Christian
Photography By – Steve Christian
Piano – Ed Harcourt (tracks: 7)
Producer – Rae*, Christian*
Scratches – Agent 86 (tracks: 2), Jazzy Jeff* (tracks: 2), Mark Rae (tracks: 2)
Violin – Gita Langley (tracks: 4, 8, 12), Rick Duffield (tracks: 2, 6, 8)
Vocals – Mark Rae (tracks: 4, 5, 9, 11)
Radiant and melodic downtempo music that fuses electronic music, hip-hop, house, soul, neo-classical, and much more. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 5, 2024