Fresh Sound: The KBCS & Olivier St.Louis - Pockets

Pockets is the final single to be taken from the critically acclaimed sophomore LP, Colour Box, by Hamburg based quartet, The KBCS, featuring Olivier St.Louis.

As usual, this foursome of erstwhile session musicians jammed out what became Pockets with their customary degree of abandon. Consequently, this led to a number of welcome ‘mistakes’ that contribute towards the magic this talented tetrad so often creates. This time, though, the errors were perhaps a little too plentiful, and when singer Olivier St. Louis got involved in the writing process, the whole song was re-arranged and re-recorded by the Berlin-based musician. So much so, that the band didn’t even recognize the intro to the song when it was first played to them!

Once again, the addition of a guest vocalist was masterminded by label boss Oliver Glage who immediately suggested the Washington born and Haitian rooted artist. Olivier’s credits include working with the likes of Oddisee, Bibio, Onra and Hudson Mohawke, as well as more recently recording an album for UK Worldwide winning label, First Word Records. St. Louis’ vocals, on this track in particular, are perhaps more than a little reminiscent of Californian rapper Anderson.Paak, which is no bad thing as Pockets is probably one of the most immediate and soulful cuts on the album. A guaranteed earworm for months to come.

Listen to The KBCS & Olivier St.Louis new single Pockets, from the band's forthcoming album Color Box:

The KBCS represents the coming together of four very uniquely gifted, but very complementary, musicians from Hamburg. Drummer Lucas Kochbeck spends much of his time obsessing about vintage recording equipment, tape machines and the like, whilst adding his talents to the recordings of retro-loving contemporaries such the Bacao Rhythm And Steel Band and the Colemine Records family. Keyboard wiz Nicolas Börger is very much an in-demand, sound-centric master of the blacks and whites, in the same way that guitarist Lars Coelln lends his skills to a myriad of works across the sonic spectrum. Completing the quartet, bottom-end provider Daniel Stritzke adds a little freeform jazz and hip hop attitude to the mix, but even then you can find his bass holding things down on crossover hits galore. Look out for news of The KBCS bringing their sublime live show to a town near you soon as things hopefully start to open up around the world.

Watch below The KBCS & Olivier St.Louis new single Pockets, from the band's forthcoming album Color Box: