My Baby – Echo (So Recordings) (13thFloor Album Review)
Echo is the latest and 8th release from My Baby, the blended trio made up of Dutch siblings Cato and Joost van Dijk with Kiwi-born Daniel “DaFreez” Johnston, playing their distinct sound of what they describe as “Blues Rave-up”.
The band have been pounding out their version of blues-inspired dance music since 2012, carrying on the mantle set down by Moby in the latter years of the last century.
They celebrated a decade since their first record My Baby Loves Voodoo with its rerelease, including bonus tracks and remastering, at the beginning of last year.
It’s interesting to contrast the music from then to now: the influence of Sly Stone’s bass player Larry Graham is all over Loves Voodoo with a delicious collection of blues-soaked, funky, soulful songs; Echo, by comparison, is heavy on the dance and definitely a lighter shade of blue.
The title track defies that assessment, however, with a funky, blues-licked number. Cato shows off her soulful credentials singing of isolation in a world otherwise so full:
All I can hear is the sound of my echo
Cato wails against Johnston’s clear and bright stratocaster.
Echo the song sets the tone for Echo the album: we’re going on an exploration of human relationships and feeling with some folky roots blues thrown over a commanding dance rhythm.
Sometimes the soulful blues is dropped altogether allowing the mesmerizing pulse of EDM to take over.
Siren Song does just that with it’s hypnotic, dreamy, trance a backdrop to Cato’s sultry voice.
And hearing my song I entice you my way
Before you can tell the fear of my spell has led you astray…
You can’t help but give yourself over to the song, getting lost in the flow.
RU 4 Real carries on in the same vein with Cato and Johnston interplaying beautifully between voice and guitar.
Cato is an accomplished musician, but she also shows great versatility and control with her voice – belting out the power when necessary and sometimes seducing with her soft, lilting tone .
In Trying Again she shows what a true chameleon she is with a great female Al Green impersonation in a song that the Reverend would have been happy to produce himself.
I tried so hard to be your friend – sometimes I got to pretend.
At least we’re trying again.
It could be the 2025 version on Let’s Stay Together!
The soulful feel is carried on in the smoochy duet Less Is More with Cato and Johnston taking turns to sing verses before harmonising in the chorus:
‘Cos sometimes less is more when we care to the core
It’s alright, it’s so raw, but you’re worth fighting for
Turn the lights down low and the music up, this is the time for lovers.
Lightning brings Morcheeba to mind with it’s dirge-style bass and psychedelic synth and guitar lines and a driving drum beat. It’s a sweaty, rhythmic track suited for a closely-packed dance floor that’ll have you heading to the bedroom right after you’ve done dancing:
Why me baby, why do you wanna ride with me?
Cato’s breathy, soft voice sings.
I can blow your mind, we can break these chains.
Give me that lightning.
One song that stands apart from the whole album is taken from the Robbie Burns poem Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots, on the approach of spring, set to a folk blues tune. Queens Lament is a moving, thoughtful contemplation of life, the passing of seasons and one’s mortality.
Does it work on this record? It’s definitely a breather and it’s often good to go in another direction, but in a dance-heavy collection such as Echo it does feel a little out of place.
The most recent single from the album is an infectious track that’ll get you dancing right away: Smiley Virus – is it a spoonerism of a certain US country/pop singer? Is it a tongue in cheek take on Covid19?
Neither, it seems, but a full-throated song in praise of chemical-induced hedonism:
What’s with all the fuss and fighting? There are forces trying to divide us.
All we need is a smiley virus, infecting the system and taking us higher…..
In Echo My Baby have consciously moved away from the blues-heavy, soulful work from earlier times to music that’s more suited to crammed dancefloors and a feeling of escapism.
But maybe that’s the point: in a world seemingly so full of bad news perhaps it’s time for a little less blues and a little more rave-up.
Party on!
Alex Robertson
Echo is out tomorrow! Pre-save the album here.
