Dan Le Sac - Space Between the Words

I'm not one to go out and buy a physical release of an album, I hate shopping, I hate shop keepers and I hate having to carry anything. Petty reasons I know but I just don’t have the patience to do it, this being said there will occasionally an album will come along that piques my interest, in these very rare cases I’ll make a point of going out to get a CD, it adds something to the experience when you’ve actually got something you can hold. Dan Le Sac’s album Space Between the Words was one of these albums, so I set out to find a copy, a decision I now see was a challenge as it took me three days to find one in central London, however when I found one I can safely say I was not disappointed in the slightest. From this album I've been introduced to several new artists, in particular Josh Idehen and his current project Benin City, and Sarah Williams White, both of which have now had heavy rotation on my iPod. Ahead of the release of the new Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip album I've spent a lot of time revisiting previous albums from them both, this album particularly stood out.

The albums opening track, Long Night of Life was a perfect beginning to the album, the gentle clapping to start with leads into a beautiful vocal piece from folk artist Merz, who features again on Zephyr later on in the album. The track leads into one of four particularly high points of a brilliant album, Play Along. Featuring South London R&B artist Sarah Williams White the track has fantastic vocals from a real up and coming talent working perfectly with the beats and the electronic additions, perfectly displaying both the talent of the vocalist and the producer. 

Memorials featuring anti-folk artist Emmy the Great follows, since listening to this album I've gained a great interest in her as a solo artist, the song has a haunting quality to it, and her lingering voice gives the track atmosphere while working perfectly alongside Dan Le Sac’s production.

The album now enters into a Le Sac solo piece, more aggressive than anything heard until this point it perfectly breaks the theme the album has gained so far and leads perfectly into Tuning, the best track on the album in my opinion. Featuring Benin City rapper and spoken word artist Josh Idehen the track is essentially Idehen talking about everything and absolutely nothing over the beat. Since listening to this track I've spent endless hours listening to spoken pieces by Idehen on YouTube and buying ‘Fires in the Park’ by Benin City.  

The next track is the first of two featuring Strange Famous rapper and activist B. Dolan, Good Time Gang War, another of the four tracks I was particularly impressed with. This is followed by the second solo piece by Le Sac, Hold Yourself Lightly.

This album shows an impressive assembly of indie artists with amazing talent over its 50 minute run time, Le Sac even gets to sing himself on the albums cover of Rhythm on the Loose’s  1992 house track Break of Dawn, which features HowAboutBeth, which is another highlight of the album. The instrumental solo pieces from Le Sac throughout the album work perfectly to break up tracks and change the tone of the album which is constantly shifting in style, from hip hop and rap to alternative folk. The albums final track is a cover of Arab Strap's Cherubs featuring Pete Hefferan of Pete and the Pirates, it's a slow and refectory sounding song which perfectly brings the album to a close. 

Overall the album is a massive achievement; it’s perfectly produced and performed by a group of people who show extraordinary amounts of passion throughout every track on the album. The whole album has more ideas flying around then the entire top 40 of last year yet never received the credit it should have. Le Sac’s charm shines through on every track, something a lot of producers lose when trying new ideas; it shows his growth as a producer and gives a huge amount of promise to the new Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip album.