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Graffiti6

Graffiti6 "Colours" album

- Release date : January 2012 -

Colours is the debut studio album by pop/rock duo, Graffiti6, released on January 24, 2012 through Capitol Records.

"Colours" album tracks and lyrics

"Colours" album reviews

Challenging Madonna in the reinvention stakes, London-based singer/songwriter Jamie Scott returns, alongside respected producer Tommy D (Kanye West, Jay-Z, Kylie), with his third musical incarnation in six years, Graffiti6. Positioned as a legitimate R&B star with his debut album Searching, (released under his own name in 2004), and and his appearance in urban dance flick Step Up, he changed tact for second release, Park Bench Theories, a James Taylor-inspired collection of acoustic ballads recorded under the guise of Jamie Scott & the Town in 2007, and now, three years later, moves the goal posts again, this time with a wildly eclectic effort which at times recalls the psychedelic neo-soul of the under-rated Lewis Taylor, and at others, the hip-hop-infected Motown pop of Mark Ronson. Full of summery melodies, breezy harmonies, and Scott's gorgeous Stevie Wonder-influenced vocals, Colours could well be rivaling Plan B's The Defamation of Strickland Banks and Cee-Lo Green's The Lady Killer as this year's retro-soul barbecue soundtrack of choice, such is its inherently sun-soaked nature. "Calm the Storm," with its languid, Zero 7-style beats, woozy blues guitar riffs, and blissful Balearic acoustic hooks, is just perfect for those long hazy summer days, as is the dreamy nu-folk ballad "Goodbye Geoffrey Drake" and the lush trippy production of the Eric Clapton-tinged title track. But Colours is more than just a contrived attempt to gatecrash the chill-out scene, as the pair regularly up the tempo with equally effective results. "Annie You Save Me" opens with some ominous cinematic strings before merging with a blend of hip-hop rhythms, beguiling distorted vocals, and an infectiously upbeat chorus reminiscent of the 5th Dimension's "Let the Sunshine In." "Stare Into the Sun" is a colorful attempt at feel-good funk which allows Scott to unleash his inner James Brown, while there are also tracks channeling the lolloping boogie rock of early Kings of Leon ("Lay Me Down"), the jangly guitar-pop of the Cardigans ("Stop Mary"), and the rollicking Southern soul of Eli Reed ("Never Look Back"). The overlong acid-rock of "This Man" and the meandering piano-led closing number "Over You" drift into self-indulgence, but overall, Colours is a joyful and inventive record which suggests Scott may have finally found his forte.

*** by Jon O'Brien, All Music Guide ***

Graffiti 6 is the vocalist Jamie Scott and producer Tommy D, a new soul duo from London whose assured debut album sparkles with invention and throbs with emotion.

They're probably best known for the singles "Annie You Save Me" and "Stare Into the Sun", the latter a Gnarls Barkley-esque blend of characterful voice and crisp, intricate groove created from an infectious alliance of electric piano and offbeat guitar; but they're equally adept at the slower, more haunted love plaint "This Man", which resembles Seal crossed with Tricky, capped with a climactic guitar solo akin to Traffic's "Dear Mr Fantasy". The emphatic tambourine groove "Free", with its organ and falsetto vocal, the galloping stomper "Stone in My Heart" and the gently cajoling "Lay Me Down" are further standouts on an album that, come December, will be on many Year's Best lists.

*** by Andy Gill, The Independent ***

Their VH1-approved single ''Free'' makes Graffiti6 sound like Bruno Mars crooning over a Script outtake; the U.K. collective would prefer you thought of them as heirs to the Gorillaz ?art-pop throne. Swirling debut Colours actually sits somewhere in between, gently pushing their layered folktronica into a gauze-funk future. Ditch languid yoga jams like ''Calm the Storm'' ? and skip straight to the kaleidoscopic beat tornadoes ''Stare Into the Sun'' and ''Stop Mary.'' B

*** by Kyle Anderson, Entertainment Weekly ***

“Graffiti6” sounds like the name of Prince’s new girl group, but it’s actually the British musical duo of producer TommyD and ridiculously handsome heartthrob Jamie Scott. Together they’ve made Colours, an impressively silly little pop album devoted to happy dance grooves. Like many poor saps saddled with perfect bone structure, Scott is really a folk artist in his heart of hearts—the bio says, “Upon hearing [Joni] Mitchell’s Blue at the age of seven,” blah blah blah—and this gives Graffiti6 a Serious Side that pops up every so often. Sometimes these pop-ups are unfortunate, as when the slow insipid nothing of a song “This Man” derails the album four tracks in. Other times, though, their Serious Side simply adds to the silliness. For instance, “Goodbye Geoffrey Drake” is a deeply unconvincing murder ballad (!!) that peaks when its narrator learns the secret of life and pines for his Mum after the executioner’s poison has rushed through his veins. Scott gets away with such stuff because his voice is a versatile wonder capable of both scratchy shouting and Adam Levine cool.

You want pedigree? TommyD produced the alltime classic “I’m Too Sexy” for Right Said Fred, and a bunch of other stuff; he’s the older, wiser, vaguely mafioso-looking brains of the operation. Scott has led his own heartfelt pop band, the Town, and you no doubt remember his song on the Step Up soundtrack. (OK, I remember it.) He’s everything in Graffiti6 that’s not the brains.

For instance, he is the loins. In the confusing “Lay Me Down”, he alternately picks up a girl, goes to sleep beside her, and utters thoughtfully lascivious come-ons like “Lay with me, and I won’t sleep”. Scott is also Graffiti6’s broken heart. In the single “Free”, he bravely forswears lying beside the girl because she keeps leaving him, maybe because he keeps falling asleep. (I say “girl” because there’s a girl in the “Free” video, but Scott addresses many of his lyrics to some unspecified “baby”, so feel free to project your own homoerotic fantasies.) Most of all, he is whichever body part makes people strong survivors—the soul, if we must. Throughout Colours Scott finds himself repeatedly saved by love, or saved from love, or saved in spite of love. The drumless album closer “Over You” portrays that universal dream we all have of finally getting over someone, then sitting down at the keyboard and pouring out our deepest feelings as a room full of people bursts into tears. “Now I can dance”, Scott whispers.

For accompaniment, he might put on the Graffiti6 album. It’s characterized by Motown-y production numbers—hooks, glockenspiels, personable basslines—that resemble Bruno Mars singing a soul revue at an awards show. Which is to say, TommyD executes the uptempo songs perfectly, but doesn’t include much in the “individuality” department. “Annie You Save Me” is probably the best of the lot; it boasts a mysterious and triumphant hook reminiscent of something by Canadian Italo-disco duo Lime.

Graffiti6 also don’t include much in the way of “memorable lyrics”. As you’d expect from guys who named their album Colours, they’re big on visual metaphors: “Oh baby, I see the light that’s burning bright and we’re the stars”; “Now the colours all melt together”; “I broke the skies that shine above”, etc. Light and colours, it turns out, are really amazing and awesome, and you break them at your peril. Occasionally Scott seems not to understand the concept of metaphor, as when he sings on the title song, “I’m seeing colours, flowing through my mind”. I took an informal survey around the office, and it turns out Scott’s condition—“seeing colours in the mind”—isn’t so unusual. Even the blind guy could relate.

But “Colours” is still a fine song, thanks to Scott’s ethereal vocal glistening above a strutting snare drum, while strings and New Order guitar tones burst forth in vibrant array like the freakin’ Northern Lights or something. At some point in life, everyone recovers from a broken heart and becomes a psychedelic poet. Graffiti6 show that only the most brilliantly plumed among us can turn such terrible poetry into pretty pop tunes.

*** by Josh Langhoff, PopMatters ***