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PAUL INSTITUTE

Ruthven

Rough & Ready

    Ruthven - aka Sean Nelson - has always had a certain fervour associated with him. He first broke in 2017 as a founding member of Paul Institute, the label founded by A.K and Jai Paul, while also working as a member of the London Fire Brigade. In the long hours awaiting call-outs, when the truck was fully serviced and his breathing equipment was ready for the next job, Ruthven wrote the foundations of his debut album, Rough & Ready, which includes the previously released “123 Days”, “Don’t Keep It To Yourself”, and “Have You Decided?”. The resulting 12-track record marks Ruthven’s arrival as a true artist in his own right. Rough & Ready leans into classic songwriting while maintaining lush instrumentation, creating a portal that traverses decades. With appearances from A.K. Paul and Francis Anthony 'Eg' White, Rough & Ready is a bold statement of Ruthven's artistry.

    Speaking on Rough & Ready, Ruthven says:
    “A central theme to the album is playfulness. So many genres inspired me in making this album. It’s partly jazz-influenced but I was profoundly inspired by Prince. That era, including yacht rock artists like Michael McDonald and Steely Dan, deeply influenced me. I admired their songwriting and musicianship, which seemed universally recognised as exceptional. Being a former wedding band musician, I always wondered how their music had a timelessness to it, and that’s what I tried to capture here.

    While still a firefighter, I created many early sketches for what would become Rough & Ready. Some songs on the album, like “Don’t Keep It to Yourself,” were initially an upbeat funk tune, but it has evolved. Unfortunately, I lost much of my early material, pushing me to create even stronger work. I found working with Anup (A.K. Paul) was helpful. We would crack up in the studio over some of our decisions, the musical segues, and flourishes. That infectious fun energy became a core component of the album, a reminder that music should always be fun.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Cautious
    2. Indulge
    3. Don’t Keep It To Yourself
    4. Itch
    5. Thru The Walls
    6. Afterglow
    7. 123 Days
    8. POV
    9. Space = Time = Money
    10. I Can’t Go There
    11. The Window
    12. Drive It

    Fabiana Palladino

    Fabiana Palladino

      Made in the wake of the end of a long relationship, this album is an intimate record that sees Fabiana Palladino confront complex questions about love, loneliness and normativity in relationships. The result is a 10-track full-length of shapeshifting sonics that draws inspiration from the big R&B, Soul, Pop and Disco studio productions of the 80s and 90s and filters them through a modern lens. Written and self-produced by Palladino, the album features performances from renowned musicians and close friends including Paul Institute co-founder Jai Paul, her father and legendary session bassist Pino Palladino, brother and Yussef Dayes bassist Rocco Palladino, renowned drummer Steve Ferrone and strings from Rob Moose.

      Speaking on the new music Fabiana Palladino says:
      “A central theme of the album is aloneness. Whether it’s a song where I’m searching for connection with someone else, or trying to embrace the aloneness, it tends to come back to me, who I am when I’m alone, what I feel when I really look inwards. I’d say it’s a pretty introspective record overall. The songs are often about trying to go deeper into yourself, exploring your true feelings and how they then relate to and affect your relationships with others.

      “Stay With Me Through The Night” is the first song I wrote for the album. It was at the end of a tricky period where I hadn’t written music for nearly two years, and it came out in a bit of a flood, I barely even remember where or how I wrote it, but I knew it was going to be an important song for me. It ended up being the centrepiece of the album, a song that encapsulates a lot of the feeling and emotion of the rest of the record and musically it brings old together with new, which became a theme across the record…a way of combining my influences with a modern perspective.

      Rhythmically the feeling of the song comes from funk and disco, I was thinking about the piano playing of Patrice Rushen and Michael McDonald, Chaka Khan’s ‘What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me’, Bernard Edwards bass playing on Chic’s ‘Good Times’, and The Bee Gees ‘Spirits Having Flown’ but we tried to take the track somewhere else in other aspects of the production to bring out the big feelings in the song. It situates us in the emotional world that I tried to create for the rest of the album.”

      Fabiana Palladino first broke out in 2017 as one of Paul Institute’s founding artists after her shadowy R&B-influenced spectral pop reached Jai Paul, who founded the label alongside his brother A.K. Paul. Releasing three singles in four years, she caught the ear of critics - Pitchfork likened “Mystery” to “a scratch track from a big-budget 80s studio that’s been smuggled out on reel-to-reel tape” – but Palladino’s output remained slight. The intervening years have seen her working as an in-demand session musician for the likes of Jessie Ware, Sampha, SBTRKT and Laura Groves while intensely striving for pop perfection in her own music. Last year, she formed part of Jai Paul’s band for his live debut (which she also supported solo) on his hugely celebrated comeback tour.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Closer
      2. Can You Look In The Mirror?
      3. I Can’t Dream Anymore
      4. Give Me A Sign
      5. I Care
      6. Stay With Me Through The Night
      7. Shoulda
      8. Deeper
      9. In The Fire
      10. Forever

      Reinen

      Masquerade

      For the uninitiated (which included me until about 7 minutes ago), Paul Institute is the boutique label, cultural hub and sonic exchange run by synth soul genius Jai Paul, who we all know from his mega smash "Jasmine". Intent on causing a counter frenzy, Jai (or Paul) has dropped not one...not two...not three, but FOUR new label release AT THE SAME MF TIME! Wayward newcomer Reinen cordially invites you to revel in a ballroom time trap, with the bombastic head spinner "Masquerade". A trigonal tale inspired by Red Curtain Cinema & Gothic Romance; Reinen sways and bends the boundaries of theatre, fantasia and soundscape in a combustible marriage of baroque synths, electric operatics and pulsating groove. A unique alliance with shapeshifter A. K. Paul dares to immerse and paint scenes of worlds uncharted.
      File next to: Annie Lennox, Tears for Fears, Grace Jones, Kate Bush

      TRACK LISTING

      A. Masquerade
      B. Masquerade (Instrumental) 

      Ruthven

      Hypothalamus

      For the uninitiated (which included me until about 7 minutes ago), Paul Institute is the boutique label, cultural hub and sonic exchange run by synth soul genius Jai Paul, who we all know from his mega smash "Jasmine". Intent on causing a counter frenzy, Jai (or Paul) has dropped not one...not two...not three, but FOUR new label release AT THE SAME MF TIME! Ruthven returns to the label following last year's heavyweight funk jam "Evil". With a sense of greater maturity in his songwriting, Hypothalamus is an epic and impassioned song about an impending break-up. Ruthven shares the Paul brothers' penchant for experimentation and an appreciation for classic pop, manifest here in production which features brooding synth riffs and an altitudinous electric guitar solo from A. K. Paul. File next to: Prince, D’Angelo, Peter Gabriel

      TRACK LISTING

      A. Hypothalamus
      B. Hypothalamus (Instrumental) 

      Hira

      Red Light Drive

        For the uninitiated (which included me until about 7 minutes ago), Paul Institute is the boutique label, cultural hub and sonic exchange run by synth soul genius Jai Paul, who we all know from his mega smash "Jasmine". Intent on causing a counter frenzy, Jai (or Paul) has dropped not one...not two...not three, but FOUR new label release AT THE SAME MF TIME! The second release in the series comes from a new artist to the Paul Institute, Hira, who was first introduced to the world with his embryonic Eve EP. Red Light Drive is a cyberpunk symphony set in that night club in Strange Days. That bass sound is a copper/silver ’99 hayabusa ripping a tunnel and those harmonies are every colour in Cyber City Oedo 808. File next to: Prince, The Neptunes, Frank Ocean

        TRACK LISTING

        A. Red Light Drive
        B. Red Light Drive (Instrumental)

        Fabiana Palladino

        Shimmer

          For the uninitiated (which included me until about 7 minutes ago), Paul Institute is the boutique label, cultural hub and sonic exchange run by synth soul genius Jai Paul, who we all know from his mega smash "Jasmine". Intent on causing a counter frenzy, Jai (or Paul) has dropped not one...not two...not three, but FOUR new label release AT THE SAME MF TIME! Coming at them in catalogue order, "Shimmer", is Fabiana Palladino’s first self-produced track, following on from 2017’s celestial collaboration with Jai Paul, "Mystery". Driven on by a stadium-inspired rhythm section, spectral sequences and huge pop progressions, "Shimmer" is an anthem written for anyone who feels like they’re being underestimated - a reminder to stand up for yourself! File next to: Sheila E, Kate Bush, Jessie Ware - instrumental on the flip.

          STAFF COMMENTS

          Barry says: Huge, pulsing DX7 stormer from Fabiana Palladino here, throbbing basses and digital pads duck around the beautifully sung vocal syrup. Swooning synthwave through the medium of stad-rock progressions. This is definitely one to grab while you can. Killer track.

          TRACK LISTING

          A. Shimmer
          B. Shimmer(Instrumental) 


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