premiere: trip-hop icons morcheeba soar with anthem “blaze away” ft. roots manuva

Trip-hop pioneers Morcheeba have thrived for 20 years by never standing still. Though their music is instantly recognizable, they’ve never made the same record twice. For their latest single, Skye Edwards and Ross Godfrey have enlisted UK hip-hop icon Roots Manuva for the propulsive dub-inflected “Blaze Away.”
It’s one of the most hopeful songs of the band’s career, a hook-filled anthem about finding strength in love. We need all the self-care anthems we can get, and this is one of the best yet.

Morcheeba met Roots Manuva at a festival in Moscow. “We were backstage and all pretty smashed,” Ross tells AFROPUNK. “He is such a great performer and character, I invited him to my studio when we were both back in London. I sent him a beat and a riff for the song Blaze Away and he came up with some lyrics, then lost them. Half an hour before the recording, he wrote new lyrics that had such incredible energy that they completely changed the dynamic of the album. Roots said in rap what we had been trying to express more wistfully. He cuts straight to the chase, which inspired us to be more raw and forthright. The early Morcheeba records are really mellow and slow, which is nice when you’re chilling out. But right now, we’re plugged in to playing live, which means being more raw and upbeat. We’re not afraid to have big fuzzy guitar riffs or be a bit rough round the edges.”

“Blaze Away” the single drops April 27th and the full length of the same name is out June 1st. You can pre-order it on CD, digital, and limited edition vinyl here.

Photos by Nicole Vizioli