NZCA/Lines - Okinawa Channels

There has been a growing trend in the past few years in pop for groups to fuse minimal synth based R&B sounds with mournful vocals and a more traditional song writing approach, for example, in the debut album from the xx and in last year’s ‘The English Riviera’ by Metronomy. NZCA/Lines, aka former bassist with Your Twenties, Londoner Michael Lovett, may be the most exciting exponent yet of this trend with his minimal, glossily smooth take on inventive electronic R&B.

‘Okinawa Channels’ is NZCA/Lines second single and, in keeping with all his material, it is entirely composed and performed by Lovett himself. There is a lovely warmth here and the track is perfectly measured, the bubbling synths and gloriously wonky string samples creating a blissed-out dreamy effect. Lovett, while not being possessed of the most dynamic voice, has a lovely velvety smooth croon that is the perfect accompaniment to the understated electro that flutters beneath it.

‘Okinawa Channels’ may be very American sounding with its predominant R&B influences particularly the futuristic sound of Timbaland produced Aaliyah, however, NXCA/Lines has infused it with a very old fashioned sense of English melancholy to make a wonderfully exciting single from an artist who promises much in 2012.