Tag: Gotts Street Park On The Inside

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Acclaimed and rapidly rising British neo-soul and hip-hop instrumental outfit Gotts Street Park— Josh Crocker (bass, production), Tom Henry (keys) and Joe Harris (guitar) — will be releasing their highly anticipated full-length debut, On The Inside on October 13, 2023 through Blue Flowers. 

The 12-song album is reportedly a window into the band’s inner world, a world that’s been expanding since the band’s formation. What initially began as an outlet for their shared love of 60s Motown quickly became one of Leeds’ most successful and acclaimed bands, while amassing over 69 million Spotify streams.

So far I’ve written about three of the album’s released singles” 

  • “Got To Be Good,” an effortless, vintage soul-inspired strut built around skittering boom bap-like drumming, glistening Rhodes, burst of funk guitar and a sinuous and supple bass line paired with Pip Millett‘s yearning delivery.
  • “Fuego,” the album’s second single saw the acclaimed British outfit returning to their instrumental roots with an irresistibly funky funky, El Michels affair-meets-classic soul-like groove, “Fuego” and a shape-shifting arrangement of twinkling keys, squiggling funk guitar and relentless boom-bap snares. It’s a mischievously anachronistic jam that’s perfect for lounges and for crate diggers looking for deep, hypnotic grooves. 
  • “Mountains,” which paired a Quiet Storm-meets-neo-soul groove with twinkling keys, glistening guitar paired and ENNY‘s Lauryn Hill/Mary J. Blige-inspired delivery that sees her spitting bars and crooning lyrics informed by lived-in experiences of heartache, depression, struggle and survival. While not being a straightforward Behind the Music-like tale, it celebrates the fact that life is often about figuring out how to go forward when everything has gone to shit in front of you. 

On The Inside‘s fourth and latest single “Tell Me Why” is built around a dusty, Motown-meets-Daptone-like soulful groove paired with Olive Jones‘ soulful croon singing lyrics about devotion, loyalty and love. It’s that old-school, Quiet Storm love song sort of love that frankly seems all too rare these days.

Gotts Streets Park says the following about the new new single: “Olive Jones is a good friend of ours who we met in Leeds over a decade ago! She’s been singing in our live show for the past year or so, and we wanted to have her featured on the album.” Commenting further they add, “This tune seemed the perfect fit for her voice and style to shine – we had the instrumental tracked out a few years ago and she jumped on recently and gave it a new lease of life.” 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Gotts Street Park Shares Funky “Fuego”

With the release of a handful of singles the rising neo-soul and hip-hop outfit Gotts Street Park— Josh Crocker (bass, production), Tom Henry (keys) and Joe Harris (guitar) — quickly amassed fans and acclaim while working with Rejje Snow, Kali Uchis, Cosima, Yellow Days, Chester Watson, Celeste, Rosie Lowe, and a growing list of others. 

2021’s Diego EP, which featured a collection of compositions informed by the raw energy of being together and creating in the same room, a cinematic batch of gongs inspired by The Godfather and Yasujirō Ozu.

The British outfit’s highly-anticipated full-length debut On The Inside is slated for an October 13, 2023 release through Blue Flowers. The 12-song album is reportedly a window into the band’s world, a world that’s been expanding since the band’s formation several years ago. What initially began as an outlet for their shared love of 60s Motown quickly became one of Leeds’ most successful and acclaimed bands, while amassing over 69 million Spotify streams.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Got To Be Good,” an effortless, vintage soul-inspired strut built around skittering boom bap-like drumming, glistening Rhodes, burst of funk guitar and a sinuous and supple bass line paired with Pip Millett‘s yearning delivery.

“’Got To Be Good’, came together pretty fast. Whenever we’ve been in the room with Pip, it’s pretty free and fruitful,” the members of Gotts Street Park explain. “When a song comes together like this, we don’t overthink it or alter the final take too much and just hope to have the same energy come through to the listener as we felt in the room creating it.” 

“’Got To Be Good’ is about pulling yourself out of the darkness,” Pip Millett adds. “You have to really want for a change in order to pull away from that sadness, and that’s what I was writing about.”

On The Inside‘s latest single “Fuego” sees the trio returning to their instrumental roots. Featuring an irresistibly funky, El Michels affair-meets-classic soul-like groove, “Fuego” is built around a shape-shifting arrangement of twinkling keys, squiggling funk guitar and relentless boom-bap snares. The song sees the acclaimed British trio crafting a mischievously anachronistic jam that’s perfect for lounges and for crate diggers looking for deep, hypnotic grooves.

Directed by Kumara Vision, the accompanying video for “Fuego” offers a rare snapshot into the band’s inner workings with hazy, mind-bending footage of the band working in the studio.

“’Fuego’ started as a quick jam one afternoon during our June 2022 residency at Laylow,” the rising British trio explain.”It was super hot in London that day, and we were sweating it out in the top floor studio. The riff came about as we were letting off steam in between writing and developing ideas with a vocalist. Josh hit on the bass riff first and it kinda flowed from there.   

“When we’re in a session writing with someone, we can end up playing the same chords round and round for a few hours – and ideas like ‘Fuego’ come about when we’re letting loose and being super playful after being so restricted.”