Ever wondered what Marvin Gaye would sound like stranded in 21st century London with just a MacBook?
Hometown: London.
The lineup: Gent Mason (vocals, music).
The background: Gent Mason is a London boy offering a homegrown take on American and Canadian indie R&B. Like Dornik, who we featured in this space, the model is the Canadian producer-artist Weeknd, who is fast shaping up to be the most influential new male artist of the last few years. (That is, unless you count Ed Sheeran, although in Sheeran's case the frequent proliferation of mini-mes has largely occurred without critical consent.) Whereas we'd be happy for new Weeknd's – or new Miguels – to keep cropping up, as long as they're of this quality, or of the quality of LA's Gallant.
Summer suits this stuff, for sure, but its slow pace, sad mood and rainy atmospherics work in autumn, too. Mason's first release is on the Aesop label, the early home of Sohn, that exponent of mournful electronica who recently signed to 4AD. He grew up listening to and loving US hip-hop and R&B, and his individual take on crackly downtempo soul was, according to his PR: "in large part due to the wisdom passed on to him by none other than Jimmy Douglass, the man responsible for collaborating in the studio with Timbaland … working on albums for Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Jay Z, and Justin Timberlake among others". If you like the current wave of vogueish, experimental female R&B artists – who themselves are responding to the advances made by their male counterparts – then you'll love what Mason is doing.
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And why wouldn't you? It's lush but spacious boudoir funk, the suaveness of the performances and smoothness of the surfaces interrupted by hisses, clicks and glitches. Think an enervated James Brown in the body of an uptight, downhearted James Blake, or Marvin Gaye with a MacBook. The lead track on Mason's debut single, Eden, will delight fans of distorted beats, reverberating bass and subtly dislocating and percolating minor-chord melodies. It has cut-up and processed male and female vocals that aren't so much call-and-response as cry-and-remorse. The track Head rides a wave of Clams Casino-type cloudy synths – all finger-snaps, falsetto-pleading and the application of sonic effects that imply tape decay. Couldn't Last Until Summer could be a hit, if not for the fact that it sounds like it was recorded under a thick duvet. Then again, it is getting a bit parky out.
The buzz: "A seductive, glowing downtempo track with sultry vocals and a repetitious beat that makes for a perfect play with your lady or dude friend."
The truth: Here's something for the weekend. Or rather, Weeknd.
Most likely to: Hiss you all over.
Least likely to: Click with radio programmers.
What to buy: Eden is released on 7 October by Aesop.
File next to: Dornik, Gallant, Weeknd, Miguel.
Links: www.facebook.com/gentmason.
Tuesday's new band: Forest.
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