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Slowly Rolling Camera - Slowly Rolling Camera (2014) [Bandcamp 24-48]

There's no stopping Cardiff pianist, composer and label boss Dave Stapleton - a sparky young postbop bandleader a decade ago, he's latterly written for films, string quartets, all-cello bands, and now the jazz-inflected electronic nu-soul outfit Slowly Rolling Camera. The core group is just keys, electronics, vocals and drums, but bassist Jasper Hoiby, saxist Mark Lockheart, guitarist Chris Montague and a host of string players join this arresting session, on a spacey soundscape that has been compared with the Cinematic Orchestra and Portishead, but which throws Supremes-reminiscent vocal choruses and Coltranesque sax flights in for good measure. A pivotal figure is Dionne Bennett, vocalist with Cardiff band the Earth - a soulful, powerful newcomer with Rising Star written all over her. Stapleton is superb at fascinating sonic mixes, and if his song-melodies and riffs aren't yet always in the same class, he's still a restless creator who keeps expanding his palette. Having Bennett around won't do any harm with audience-building either.