Confection are an Australian musical unit. Essentially they consist of vocalist Juanita Tippins and multi-instrumentalist/producer Josh Beagley. They launched themselves on the UK last summer with a 12″ – ‘Fantasisin” – which quickly won support in modern soul rooms with its slinky, sensual groove. Astute DJs however flipped the disc for the dancer ‘I Choose You’ and they discovered a perfect example of that peculiar, bouncy retro “modern” soul groove so beloved of the ultra-conservative modern soul fans. Said soul fans can now overdose on much more of the same with Confection’s debut album. The eponymous set contains both ‘I Choose You’ and ‘Fantasisin’ along with 8 other tracks that could easily have been cut in the 80s – that’s how retro they sound. Clearly main man Beagley has been on some kind of long distance Jam-Lewis correspondence course. Each tune contains elements of the great duo’s work – indeed the aforementioned ‘Fantasisin” simply rips off the intro to ‘Just Be Good To Me’ and (naughty, naughty) they don’t even give due credit … if I was a copyright solicitor I’d be on the job straightaway! Still, as a pastiche it’s good enough – better than the synthy, electro ‘Put Me On Your Playlist’ and ‘Flirt’. If you like things a little slower ‘Stuck’ is a moody ballad with pretty, layered vocals while if you’re still in any doubts about the duo’s Jam-Lewis allegiances they even cover their ‘Diamonds’ – but add little to it. Therein lies the problem with so called “modern” soul. It’s not modern at all…. (and we won’t even discuss the “soul” element). OK, it might all have been recorded “now” – but its essence comes from back in the day – it’s a re-creation of an old sound – and if you get off on simple, boppy, bouncy music this will be perfect for you – check it all out at www.soulchoonz.com
(BB) 3/5