B IS FOR BENT (PT3)
Some more quirky downtempo from Bent. This time with 70s pop star David Essex.Bent are Simon Mills and Nail Tolliday. Setting up their own label, Sport Recordings, the duo released three EPs (one as Johnny Flash And The Flames) before a highly-praised debut, “Programmed To Love”. They formed Bent in Nottingham in 1997 after becoming disillusioned with the state of dance music at the time.
After the success of debut album “Programmed To Love” (2000), the follow up “The Everlasting Blink” was released in 2002. What set Bent aside from, say, Zero 7 was their bold use of (albeit sampled) vocal contributions. ‘So Long Without You’ was a mutant disco/country hybrid centred around the unlikely tones of Billie Jo Spears that really shouldn’t work. Similarly, ‘Stay The Same’ is a piece of soaring electroclash centred around a David Essex vocal that turns into a symphonic, layered beauty,and is a true original. Sadly, a number of tracks were vapid chill-outfodder, and a law of diminishing returns was starting to set in.
Bent – Stay The Same (Planet Funk Radio Version)
Bent – Since You Went Away
Bent – Lupin Glade
Bent website
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