HIL ST SOUL (Hilary Mwelwa) has been busy during the various pandemic lockdowns – writing and recording as and when she could. Earlier this year we enjoyed her ‘Heaven Must Be Like This’ – a cover of the old Ohio Players’ song and now she follows that with a new track – ‘Blessed’.
This delightfully sweet yet soulful smooth groove is actually a duet with top indie soul man NOEL GOURDIN. The pair first worked together in 2014 when they crafted the well-received ‘No Worries’ and when Hilary was sent the song ‘Blessed’ by her producer Lorenzo Johnson, she instinctively felt it would work better as a duet and, equally, instinctively, she thought of Noel. She says: “The song talks about that feeling of completion you get when you are blessed with a soul mate or special person in your life. It’s a universal theme that everyone can relate to”. And clearly on the evidence of ‘Blessed’ there is a magical, musical relationship between the pair.
For his part Noel Gourdin wanted to create a modern take on the Marvin and Tammi vibe and for sure, there’s real chemistry going on here just as there was on those great old Motown duets.
Hil St Soul and Noel Gourdin’s ‘Blessed’ is imminent on Shanachie Records and we think there is an album in the pipeline – but no confirmation of that yet. In the meantime, stay ‘Blessed’!
