We first heard Great Yarmouth’s Doggett Brothers (Greg and Carl) back in 2010 when they were featured on one of the ‘Soul Unsigned’ albums. That exposure gave them the confidence to issue a full LP – ‘Daylight’ which became Jazz FM’s “album of the week”!
For the past several months they’ve been working on a new album and leaked tracks have made their way onto all the credible UK soul charts. Most notable was ‘You Make Me Feel’ which featured good old Kenny Thomas (the new “comeback kid”, given his equally new, excellent work with Cool Million), though the more conservative modern soul crew seemed to go big on ‘Lover’ – a lovely slab of retro which the Doggetts have fashioned on the chassis of all those great 80s weekender anthems. Vocalist on that one by the way is Laura Jackson.
Well the album, ‘Colours’, has just won release and the good news is that those two fine cuts aren’t the only goodies on offer. Let’s start with the first single – ‘Outa Control’. It’s a lovely, light beater with a jazzy vocal from Arnob Basit. I’m told that the top DJs have all signed up for the upcoming Opolopo remix of the cut. ‘Our Time’ (Laura Jackson again) is another with just a touch of lounge jazz about it; this time the flavour’s almost Latin. Laura’s out-front on the title cut too… another Latin-inflected romp and she’s also lead on the tougher ‘Hotter’, the mid-tempo ‘Our Time’ and the sparse ‘Why’.
The other featured vocalists are Stacy Stuart (‘You And I’ and ‘Fill My Cup’) and debutant Dominic Uppiah who handles the album’s big ballad, ‘Two in My Life’ with real maturity. Simple and uncluttered, this one proves there’s more to the Brothers Doggett than beats for the feet! The instrumental interlude,’2 am’ is another revelation with some fine Donald Byrd style horn from Davie Howes.
‘Colours’ is available on iTunes from 20th May and via selected stores. Find out more @ www.thedoggettbrothers.co.uk
(BB) 4/5
