One of the last times Morcheeba toured Brazil, they stayed in a Sao Paolo hotel with a swimming pool bar called the Skye Bar on its roof. One day, singer Skye Edwards was swimming in the pool when the manager came up and told her, "You do realize this pool is named after you, Skye?" This gives some measure of how far and how deeply the band's influence has spread since they first sketched out the blueprint for trip-hop with their debut album Who Can You Trust? almost 20 years ago. It's a journey which has taken the brothers from their native Kent and Skye from East London to performing for tens of thousands of ecstatic fans in South America and China, along the way releasing eight successful albums of modern music which reflect the most positive aspects of contemporary culture. Paul Godfrey, the band's beatmaster and production wizard, remembers the impact that 1998's Big Calm, their second album, had across the world. "People were almost religious about it" he marvels. "I'd get stopped in the street in New York by people who'd been going through a really bad time, and they'd say it was our music that helped get them through this bad period. I still get messages regularly to that effect. It's easy to be cynical but the reality is that's what music did for us too." Morcheeba expanded their songwriting and sound on the appropriately titled Big Calm and it payed off in spades. Incorporating everything from electronica, reggae, funk, jazz, pop and lounge, the trio brought the soundscapes of contemporaries like Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky to enchanting and hypnotic new heights. Easy listening for the warm at heart!
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