ATO Vinyl & CDs

Review: "A revelatory blast of soul, R&B and off-the-rails piano jams". Rolling Stone magazine could not have been much clearer in its recommendation of Plain Sight. Neal Francis' second album, released in 2021, nodded to everyone from George Clinton to Sly and the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield to Prince. It was pop songwriting in the truest sense - free and experimental yet somehow universally enjoyable and captivating. The third, Francis Comes Alive, offered, not more of the same, but equally generous helpings of funk-infused, r&b topped soul-groove with a lashings of overbite. Now Return To Zero proves those were no flukes. That familiarly unpredictable yet soothing Francis sound is more refined and elegant than ever, but still seems to want to take you towards the hazy neon glow of a backstreet dancefloor long after dark.