Defender

Description

Chungking, the pop connoisseurs favourite, the record collectors hidden gem, return with their third album Defender on June 1st. The latest and self-produced album from the Brighton based trio captures their slick and sultry grooves, coupled with serious musicianship and above all, the voice and multi-layered harmonies of Jessie Banks. Smooth as silk and tough as steel, its Jessies vocal that has come to define Chungkings signature sound. Chungkings debut We Travel Fast on Tim Love Lees label for party people Tummy Touch set a career agenda with beautifully crafted, consistent and timeless songs that won the band plaudits across the board. Since its release the trio have worked with pop overlord Richard X and WARP records techno-soulman Jamie Lidell, while Jessie by special request has provided vocals both live and recorded for Royksopp and Air. They were among the very first to be remixed by the mighty Hot Chip. Classic, deep-rooted songwriting, Defender places them somewhere in a miraculous zone between Kate Bush, The Bee Gees and the Drive soundtrack its an album that could only have been made by people utterly in love with pop music. Sapphire, the first release from Defender, was written for a best friend who I travelled the world with, then lost says Ben. It took a year to finish and by the end it was a little bit about my girl too. Its all about loving someone but knowing that ultimately you never really know them Jessie, Sean Hennessy and Ben Townsend have woven a melancholic sweetness through Sapphire resulting in a track that moves with the softness of a lullaby and the hazy weight of a broken heart at sunrise. Lead track Beautiful World, recorded like much of the album in an isolated house in Porthia, Cornwall, is, says Jessie a song that expresses how I feel about the friends Ive lost along the way to drugs. The beautiful young people who just got swept far too far. Some of those friends have returned. Some havent. Album highlight Stand by Me was the last song to be written and is sung, says Jessie, from the perspective of a Joan Of Arc figure. I wanted to write something strong and direct. Verses of orchestral 80s stabs and sweeping melodies lead to a middle eight that nods to Wally Badarou. With Defender, Chungking continue their legacy; able to take in everything from The Carpenters to Vashti Bunyan, psychedelic soul to Italo- disco and still, and after seven years away, managing to sound completely and unmistakably Chungking to the core.