Former DJ with chart act The Dust Junkies, Ganiyu releases his debut solo single, ‘Special’ on 1st July – the first release from the new Manchester/London label, Key Recordings.
With its chilled out tempo, acoustic guitar riffs, and a half spoken Mancunian purr of a vocal, the track saunters quite happily in and out of left field, making this a pleasant slice on indie pop.
Ganiyu describes his music as ‘organic soul’ but this single is a little too short and tight for that (which is no bad thing, and will increase its chart potential). As the track begins, there’s definitely a Morcheeba-type thing going on here, all laid back and pleasant, and you’re thinking ‘hmm, this is nice’. What kicks in next will be crucial because it’s all so damn sweet there’s a slight chance of Ronan Keating stepping up to the mike and ruining it for everyone. Fortunately, it’s Ganiyu who’s singing, and it works because… well because he sounds like Tricky in a good mood, or Lee Marvin if you bought him an ice cream and told him what a good boy he was – and so we can all groove on merrily from here, through the choruses under laid by female backing singers, through the three and half minutes of gentle falls and crescendos, the happy invocations of love.
‘Special’ is summertime in Portishead, and with the likes of Radio One’s Mark and Lard and Century FM championing it, we might, just might be hearing more of it.