Having worked together on his 2024 album 'Colours & Light', Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne joins forces once again with Wendy Martinez, French singer and composer, and also part of renowned psych-girl group Gloria on a new collaborative EP

Landing on Mr Bongo, 'Time Stands Still / Le temps s'arrete' is a sonic exploration that shows a shared love of the progressive music emanating out of France in the '60s and '70s and the celebrated flm soundtrack composers of the time.

A more melodic and romantic excursion than Paul's previous recordings, this EP marries his richly textured, cinematic psych rock with Martinez's captivating vocal presence. A body of work born during the period Paul was fnishing up his last LP 'Colours & Light', he penned an album's worth of instrumental library-style music and had the idea of having Wendy add vocals and lyrics to a selection of them. The instrumental record got scrapped, but thankfully 'Time Stands Still' grew out of it.

Paul was a fan of Wendy's work as both a solo artist and in the band Gloria, and her inclusion on the Project Gemini tracks 'Entre chien et loup' & 'Extra Nuit' showed a clear synergy to their musical approaches and sounds. For 'Time Stands Still' he sent over instrumental tracks one by one, with Wendy taking time to fnd melodies and French poetry she was happy with and returning her ideas from her home just outside of Lyon.

Drawing inspiration from French soundtrack composers such as Francois de Roubaix, Frances Lai and Michel Colombier, as well as French female artists including Leonie and Laurence Vanay, these productions are a contemporary love letter to this sound, not a homage. Mixing psych, folk, chanson, and French new wave, it's music that pulls you in deeper, with groove, grit and passion at its core.

'Je n'ai plus peur' kicks things off with a sultry energy. It's a psych-funk production drenched in attitude, swagger, and edge, which nods to the left- feld side of Serge Gainsbourg's music. Elsewhere, 'Ame contre ame' feels like the opener from a forgotten new-wave flm, managing to be at both beautiful yet sinister and longing. 'The Crawler' could be incidental music from the same flm, with Wendy using her voice as an instrument layering the backing track as Paul's bass takes centre stage. The ghostly spoken word of 'Ce qui est intact' echoes a funky version of what the Theatre du Chene Noir d'Avignon may have recorded. A transportive journey 'Time Stands Still' is nostalgic yet new in the same smoke-flled breath. Fuzzed-up guitars and driving basslines meld with folk-leaning organs and mellotron vibrations to give that eerie, otherworldly edge. All of which are seasoned by the sensuous, layered vocal tones of Wendy Martinez, alongside crisp drums from Tony Coote and considered percussive touches by Paul Elliot.

TRACK LISTING

1. Je N'ai Plus Peur
2. Ame Contre Ame
3. Crawler
4. Notre Chambre
5. Ce Qui Est Intact
6. Ame Contre Ame (reprise)

On the A side, Jack Sharp of the psychedelic, folk rock bands Wolf People and Large Plants, takes on 'After The Dawn'. Sharp, who featured heavily on Colours & Light, dials up the distortion with this all-consuming, darker shade of a remix. Sucking you down into a wormhole of layered guitar reverberations and Paul's spiralling, echoed vocals, it's an intoxicating, driving hit of mind-bending, progressive rock.

Taken from the Colours & Light album recording session, the B side features 'Darkness Rising'. A previously unreleased, original track that didn't make it onto the album, Project Gemini leans in on the wah-wah fuzzed guitars, using it as the basis for a sonic brew of synths, percussion and bass-heavy, psychedelic rock synergy.

TRACK LISTING

After The Dawn (Large Plants Remix)
Darkness Rising

A cinematic musical journey that plays out like a long-lost soundtrack (think cult B-movies of the 60s and 70s); 'The Children of Scorpio' was formed from Paul's love of a myriad of genres; from European library music, acid folk, psych-funk, vintage soundtracks and the contemporary breaks scene. The album draws on iconic classics such as the masterful cinematic funk of Lalo Schifrin's 'Dirty Harry', Ennio Morricone's 'Vergogna Schifosi' and Luis Bacalov's 'The Summertime Killer', to name but a few.

You can also hear the folk sounds of Mark Fry's iconic 'Dreaming With Alice', the Britsh folk-jazz of The Pentangle and the David Axelrod-produced 'Release Of An Oath' by The Electric Prunes, woven into the cultural tapestry of this gem. The influence of these vintage productions of the 60s and 70s is evident; however, it could be argued that there's also echoes of the funkier psychedelic moments of bands such as The Stones Roses and The Charlatans, alongside contemporaries such as The Heliocentrics and Little Barrie, thus giving the album a broader crossover potential beyond the world of crate digging and vintage soundtracks. We are delighted to be releasing this slowly- brewed timeless classic that manages to achieve that rare feat of keeping one foot firmly in the past whilst still sounding totally contemporary.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Children Of Scorpio
2. The Road Through The Hills
3. Path Through The Forest
4. Searching For June (Interlude)
5. June
6. Scorpio's Waltz
7. The Invitation (interlude)
8. The Ritual '70
9. Scorpio's Garden
10. The Turning
11. Plan Your Escape
12. The Deserted Compound (interlude)
13. Buried In The Woods
14. Closing Theme