Premiere and album track-by-track – Detroit trio Billy Lo’s soul-drenched disco affair ‘Sho Me Ur Luv’

Billy Love, Darryl Tiggs and Darren Abrams in action

After the 2021 reissue of their seminal EP, ‘It’s The Life’, Detroit’s disco wizards Billy Lo – that’s Billy Love (pictured), Darryl Tiggs and Darren Abrams – return to Cosmocities with their first album, Billy Lo.

A flavorful bomb of soulful Motown aromas, Paradise Garage-esque suavity and shuffling house rhythms brought to a hedonistic simmer, the trio’s latest packs the kind of debonair charm and infectious funk that shall make as much damage on the dance floor as it will in the alcove.

The A-side starts off with ‘Pain’, a slice of satin-smooth house churn in true Detroit house style that engineers a fine euphony of classic piano twinkle, morning workout programming, stealth bass manoeuvres and shrill strings. The perfect scenery for Billy Love’s vocals to bloom in all their swinging sensuality. True to its name, the all-instrumental ‘Chill’ goes a further bass and drums-blazing route, all in generous synth sines and ovoid bounce, whereas ‘Let Ur Body Werk’ unfolds as a spirited, Afrofunk-tinged chugger bound for tireless boogie, focussing on Love’s hypnotic vocal hoodoo, sturdy bass traction and a feast of incendiary congas sure to whip up the attendance into a frenzy at any time of the day. 

Flip it over and here’s the B-side up with some intoxicating jazz business for the late hours. Dishing out a fiery combo of space-discoid slap bass, sun-bleached piano chords and heavily filtered loops, ’Sho Me Ur Love’ is juicy entanglement in a bottle. All in slowed-down voluptuousness, the loungey bop number ‘Flavors’ reels out like a washed-out dream, vaporous and lush as it gets. Topping off the journey on a hi-NRG spin, ‘Do Ur Thang’ pulls out a playful collage of heavy-duty bass propulsion, obsessive synth motifs and ebullient pep talk sure to have you going hard all night long.

The trio have kindly given us permission to share ‘Sho Me Ur Luv’ from the album in advance of its release on May 13, and chatted about the album track-by-track…

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Billy Lo – track-by-track

‘Pain’ (feat Billy Lo)

B.L. – inspired by Eric Gales, who lets his music turn pain into joy.

D.A. – You just always want a “ Colonel Abrams” feel on at least one Billy Lo track

‘Chill @ 2’ (Darren Abrams mix)

D.A. – This track was mixed last. Like a good drink, laid back melody, drop simple bass, add drums, then just chill.

B.L – Jean Luc Ponty’s version of Stevie Wonder’s song “As”. Can’t get more chill than that.

‘Let Ur Body Werk’ (Darryl Tiggs mix)

B.L. – Amp Fiddler has always played a big part helping behind the scenes. ‘Work That Sucker to Death’, George Clinton and Bootsy Collins inspired me on this one.

D.T. – We’ve worked with LaRay Starr in the past. Dames Brown and Amp Fiddler were the inspiration.

‘Sho Me Ur Luv’ (Darren Abrams – Rodney Hightower mix)

D.A. – Billy delivers smooth vocals like in Heatwave’s “Too Hot to Handle” album.

B.L. – Yeah, old school love vocals inspired by Carl Moore on “Carter Lake/Must be the Beat”.

R.H. – I felt that Mike Dunn “Shapeshifter” vibe.

‘Flavors’ (Darryl Tiggs – Darren Abrams mix

DA.. – Back in the day you could count on Detroit radio station, WJZZ. That fed our love for jazz. George Duke, Grover Washington, Stanley Clark, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Sample, Earl Klugh, Branford Marsalis, George Benson, Roy Ayers. The list is endless.

DT. – Kai Alce’ did a remix track on our last EP, ‘It’s The Life’, that has a deep jazzy vibe to it, so we waited to follow with this track.

‘Do Ur Thang’ (Darryl Tiggs mix)

D.A. – Billy locks into his background mode for vocals on this track and rides the groove.

B.L. – Anthony “Shake” Shakir’s ‘That’s What I Want’ inspired my delivery on this track.

DT. – Juan Atkins lit the way for us, leading to techno and house music.

Pre-order your copy of Billy Lo on 12″ vinyl by clicking here