MELOR012
Chris Coco
"Freedom Street"

Freedom Street is Chris Coco's debut album on his new label, Melodica Recordings. It follows 2009's Feel Free Live Good which came out on Big Chill Records. Freedom Street is a real place in south London. It’s an imaginary state of grace in the city, a feeling of belonging, a sense of letting go on a spectacularly hot summer's day. It's about living in London now, it's coloured by the music of the past. It's about feeling good, in a kind of melancholy way. It's about new ways of seeing old things, about a sense of wonder for familiar surroundings…
The album kicks off with 'Word,' a track inspired by early Factory Records dance acts like Quando Quango, featuring Scottish singer Andrew Docherty. Andrew took the backing track and came back with a fully formed song, complete with horn section and distortion.
‘Letter From Erika' follows, featuring vocalist Dan Rowe. It’s a letter in the form of a song from a friend who lives in Berlin. The names have been changed; Erika is actually the brand of typewriter she used to write the letter. You can hear the sound of it in the finished mix.
Next up we have Melodica's debut single release, 'Holiday.' The track features Scottish folk artist Samantha Whates doing her best to sound like the ghost of Astrud Gilberto and the clinking of ice in glasses of a rather lovely Italian rosé for inspiration and general good vibes.
'Down To The Sea' is an attempt to capture the Balearic spirit, dubwise, complete with vocals from the wonderful Dayeene sisters from Sweden. This is one to play at Cafe Del Mar while having a momentary existential crisis.
'St James Grove' is up next, featuring Mike Bone on the Trombone. St James Grove is the street down the road from Chris, it's an ordinary street but in the Summer, when the roses in the front yards are in bloom and the sun shines at a certain angle on the brickwork, it's kind of beautiful.
Track six on the album, 'My Desire' 'started off a bit gothic but ended up sounding like the soundtrack for an American cop show,' says Chris. It features Lisa Lindley-Jones on vocals. You might know her from her work with her band Dark Horses and her appearances with Unkle.
'Elton Dub' captures a one off lounge piano performance by the maestro Sacha Puttnam. The original jam was recorded at Sacha's country studio hideaway in the depths of County Cork in Ireland.
'End Of The World' is a happy sad song, the music is kind of sweet but the words are a little dark. It was originally inspired by sunny holidays, then Chris and vocalist Jim Sturgess both read The Road and something a little cloudy happened.
Next up, and to finish the vinyl release, we arrive at 'Love You So.' The title is self explanatory really; it's a floating love song without many words. The original idea came from playing around with a Yamaha Tenorion with singer Dexter.