Hitherto less well-known than fellow Melbourne-dwelling creatures The Bamboos, Saskwatch are poised to emerge from Australia’s funkiest city and leave substantial proof of their existence on the global funk-soul scene with debut LP Leave It All Behind. Hot on the heels of current single Your Love, the album totals twelve tracks of sweet sunshine soul that slot in somewhere between the increasingly pop savvy sound of The Bamboos and the full authentic Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings thing. Stylistically, the album ranges across spy funk (instrumental opener Delinquent), a northern soul stomper (current single Your Love), a bluesy New Orleans jams (Second Best) and drops a bit of Hammond into the mix on other instrumental Kids. What links most of these however and defines the album’s overall sound is a big horn section and the highly capable voice of singer Nkechi Anele which graces ten of twelve tracks. They shouldn’t be short of choices for their next single either. My money’s on the soaring soul of Only One, the stop-starty soul grooves of Don’t Wanna Try or Coca Cola but it could just as easily be the northern soulful Strange Things. Saskwatch then – leaving the small-time behind – check three of the LP tracks below – more audio soon come…
(Out 17 August on Northside Records/ Shock)