
Top Brit soul man VICTOR HAYNES won’t mind us calling him a veteran. He’s been on the scene since the 90s seeing fads and trends come and go, but through it all he continues to deliver his take on smooth and sophisticated soul, building for himself a loyal fan base. Those fans will be delighted to know that Vic has just launched a new album, ‘Can We Talk’, via Expansion Records.
This new album, a concise 9 tracker, is Mr H’s follow up to his well-received 2019 collection ‘Take It To The Top’ and like that one it’s stuffed with classy, sophisticated soul grooves delivered in Vic’s unique voice. The album was trailed in August with the single ‘Touch And Go’ – a sedate and smooth dancer, set at a pace that befits the current modern soul crowd… rug cutters one and all but c’mon not too frantic!
The LP offers more of the same – best, probably, the self-explanatory ‘Step With Me’, the gentlest of dancers – a smooch really! ‘Pressure’ is faster and ‘Sweet Lovin’ is a proper BIG tune. ‘Run And Hide’ is a dancer too (lovely EWF style horns here) while my guess is that the modern soul hard core (!) will prefer the crisp and tight ‘Facts Of Our Love’.
The set offers two lovely smooth semi-ballads too – ‘Crazy Love’ and ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’. Both are the kinds of things you’d find on a Will Downing album and if that’s not enough to recommended investigation I don’t know what is! But then Victor Haynes’ name should be enough to go on anyway!