The Phantom Limb sound is an indefinable blend of classic southern soul and country blues. Blending modern songwriting and rich acoustic music with powerful gospel-inflected vocals, already comparisons are being made to Mavis Staples, Aretha Franklin and The Band. Their honest, melancholic, Bristolian edge creates one of the most original and compelling new propositions of recent years. It's not quite Nashville. But it is Bristol. Somewhere along the line, someone coined the term Brashville.
It's a strange alchemy that turns studio downtime and a disastrous illness into a radical discovery of a nearly forgotten sound. That process brought together five
Bristol musicians with varying Influences and resulted in a remarkable acoustic country-soul band. It could just be the legendary melting pot of the Bristol music scene but Phantom Limb are too much their own creature for that.
It starts with the voice - Yolanda Quartey, although only 23 has incredible ability, her rich gospel-schooled powerful singing voice is exceptional, Back in December 2004 with Stew Jackson, Dan Brown and some other musical buddies they spent a day in the studio messing about with ideas. It was a Christmas present for themselves, nothing more, but when the egg-nog wore off they all knew there was something good going on.
They called it Phantom Limb and went for it when they had the time. A year later they were recording an album when Yolanda lost her voice. Completely. Six months later it was only just returning. So they played quiet - unplugged, acoustic - and found beneath the sonics and electronics a purer country heartbeat. Suddenly it all made sense, and not just to the band. It may be alchemy but Phantom Limb know exactly what they're doing.
Produced by Robot Club