Mercury Rising: Vinyl LP

Mercury Rising is the third studio album to be released by Rae & Christian. The duo weave together exceptional musicianship paired with a British song writing sensibility and the finest elements of studio production. Mercury Rising was created at producer/musician Steve Christians studio in Yorkshire with additional recording at songwriter/vocalist/DJ Mark Raes London base. In London a song writing bond was formed with Ed Harcourt and Gita Langley who make excellent contributions with vocals, songs, strings and keys. Sam Genders of Diagrams threads a story of redemption lost on the Ubahn on 1975, Kate Rogers is on imperious form and rising star Jake Emlyn unravels a whole new level of microphone skills on Favourite Game.

The international guests include the one-and-only Jazzy Jeff and Australias Agent 86 dealing out world class scratch treatments on Check The Technique (Tony D’s vocals taken from a session recorded at the birth of Grand Central Records), Brooklyn rapper Masta Ace and Mark Foster of Foster The People, a collaboration born from Marks L.A. excursion.

Mercury Rising is the first new material in many years from R&C. Their 1998 Mercury Music Prize nominated debut Northern Sulphuric Soul (“Vitally fresh and timelessly classicdeserving a place alongside Massive Attack’s Blue Lines Uncut) and 2002s Sleepwalking (“Another triumph, brimming with soulful, languid grooves, deft samples and well-chosen guest singers Q Magazine) were both released on their Grand Central Records label (Aim, Riton, Boca 45, Only Child), a defining imprint of the late 90s soul/funk/hip-hop/beats scene. Guest vocalists over the two albums included Bobby Womack, Texas, The Congos, The Pharcyde, The Jungle Brothes and Jeru The Damaja.