Joshua Idehen has been making waves on these pages since the release of the debut album of his group Benin City back in 2013. Since then he has regularly blown me away, whether it is on guest spots or with his second band Hugh.
We are now back where we began, as for the past few months Josh has been focused once more on Benin City with band mates Shanaz Dorsett and Tom Leaper.
Final Form is the latest track to come from the forthcoming album Last Night, which was developed in tribute to London’s nightlife. Benin City’s last album felt uniquely of London, and so it makes sense their next would too.
This new track continues Benin City’s move in a more electronic direction - a thick, chunky slice of indie house. Last Night isn’t just inspired by London’s night life - it is the band’s attempt to process the change and decay that is being inflicted on the city’s nightclub scene. Final Form takes one of the moments that could only have come out of that scene an encapsulates it in an aural tale of emotions, chemistry and dancing. Describing the origins of the track Idehen says:
”I once went to Zoo Bar in the west end with a poet I really fancied. It was a Saturday night and neither of us drank but we felt like dancing. They were playing soulful house (this was way back in the noughties). Spurring and daring each other on, we started with the running man and ended up at last orders, dripping in the worst sweat, making new dance moves up, downing large glasses of tap water. She, a Dragonball Z fan, kept saying, “nah, you haven’t seen my Final Form. Next song I will be over 9000”. Obviously, that stuck with me.”
The band recently sold out London’s The Waiting Room but you can still catch-up them on tour at any of the following dates: 15th March: USA, Austin, Texas: SXSW, Esther's Follies 17th March: USA, Austin, Texas: SXSW, BBC Radio 1 stage at The British Music Embassy - 1.40pm 31st March: UK, London: Lock Tavern 8th June: UK, London: Poetry and Lyrics Festival with Cerys Matthews 9th August: UK, Winchester: Boomtown Festival
Last Night will be released through Moshi Moshi later this year. Check out Final Form below.