The New Mastersounds – Therapy (2014)
New MastersoundsTherapy is the ninth studio album by The New Mastersounds, the now multi-national funk band originally from Leeds/England. With a new perspective in sound and vision, Eddie Roberts (Guitar), Simon Allen (Drums), Joe Tatton (Keyboards) and Pete Shand (Bass) recorded 12 fresh tracks in Denver/Colorado, aiming for a forward thinking sound mixing vintage funk with raw soul, smart jazz and original disco.
“Music and the creation of music has always been my therapy,” says Roberts. “It has been a way of working through ideas, feelings, frustrations. In creating music, especially instrumental music, it is an incredible outlet for pent-up emotions. People often tell me how much energy they draw from our music, often in a therapeutic way.I find the idea incredible that from my feelings, turned into music, that same music then generates feelings in the listener. It is an exchange much like the physics of music itself: from a string vibration into an electrical signal, and back from electrical signal into vibrating sound waves. I hope that this album will be as therapeutic and valuable to the listener as it was to me creating it.”
On Therapy The New Mastersounds introduce a couple of new faces. “I met Kim Dawson on Jam Cruise last year when she performed as part of my ‘super jam’. We didn’t have time to get to know each other at that point, but subsequently through various shows and social situations in Denver, where she lives, we got to know each other well and I felt that she understood and shared my vision of music. ‘I Want You To Stay’ was a lyrical sketch I had and she helped and co-wrote with me to make some sense of what I was trying to say. ‘Soul Sista’ was a poem she had written recently and, as the backing track was inspired by the Lyn Collins/James Brown track …; I thought her message was a very appropriate fit. Ryan Zoidis has been a friend for a few years through festivals and musical collaborations performing with Lettuce. When ‘Slow Down’ called for a Maceo-esque solo he was the obvious choice and nailed it!”