Output/Input Vinyl & CDs

Review: Formed during the COVID-19 lockdowns largely as the brainchild of former Chaka Khan bassist Melvin Lee Davis, Canadian soul collective Output/Input now consist of at least a whopping 12 musicians, whose collaborative synergies conspire to create the sounds you hear on record. While Forward Motion could easily be mistaken for a 70s classic, you'd be sorely mistaken, as this is a contemporary soul scrapbook through and through. Aiming to run the entire gamut of the genre - from neo-soul to hip-hop, from jazz to gospel, from funk to disco - it's mainly a testament to group cohesion and chemistry, plus relentless positivity, and fearless of disgorging of all the soul's humours.

Review: International disco-funk supergroup Output/Input carry on the campaign for their nascent album Forward Motion, this time with a standalone single edition of lead track 'I'm In Love'. The original, low-swanging version - dealing with the frightful realization of love - appears as the third track here, flanked by an ecstatizing versions of the track by Georgie B, as well as 'Time Of Our Lives', which hears singer Antonio McLendon ruminate against a sultry, funky-broken/trip-hop instrumental.

Review: London soul heavies Output/Input channel the spirit of their influences on their debut vinyl LP Forward Motion, hadron-colliding a recognizable topoi of soul and funk, and bringing all these influences together rather convincingly despite having recorded each track separately, and remotely across mulitple continents. A diverse and international group, we hear the full-bodied, co-operative vocals of Antonio McLendon, Audrey Wheeler-Downing, Brent Carter and Katie Holmes-Smith collide in an unstoppable rotation of the limelight. Meanwhile, the album remains dominated by its session artists, delivering the tightest of tight backbones and melodious acoutrements.