‘Here And Now’, of course, is one of dear Luther’s best loved tunes and it’s still a big wedding song – rightly so! However a totally different ‘Here And Now’ is currently winning praise and plays from many of soul’s top tastemakers. This new ‘Here And Now’ comes from UK collective THE PARADISE PROJEX.
The Projex is headed up by British musician, PHIL EDWARDS, who’s been active since the 80s when he founded a band called Paradise. They scored a 1983 hit with ‘One Mind Two Hearts’. Phil then went on to play sessions with people like Gloria Gaynor, Mariah Carey, East 17, Gabrielle, All Saints, The Human League, and Mica Paris. As a producer he’s worked with Carroll Thompson, The Animals, and boy band 90s 4Mandu, which had a UK pop hit with their debut single ‘This Is It’ on Arista Records.
Now, though, Mr E has re-discovered paradise via the Paradise Projex. The band are currently making an album – a follow up to their toe-dipping-in-the-water 2021 EP – and to flag up the LP, they’ve just released the aforementioned ‘Here And Now’ . The song was written by Phil Edwards and Paul Johnson and has been previously recorded by Paul himself (as well as Mica Paris) but never released. Vocalist on the song is singer-songwriter Charlotte Kelly (previously lead singer with Soul II Soul)
‘Here And Now’ is out now and comes in three mixes. The radio edit is a concise and compact mid-tempo groove; the “dub” is, well, just that, but still intriguing; and there’s a 12” extended mix that allows Charlotte to show her soulful qualities and Phill to demonstrate his mastery of the Brit soul genre. Label is Expansion, by the way.
