Natalie Barry's solo project Enjae is next into the Bluesbunny CD player, and with the gloomy opening chords of "Metropolis", I've got an uneasy feeling that we might be straying into rap territory.
The highlight of this album is, for this Bluesbunny anyway, "Nice Fit", starting with some rather camp impersonations of Ursula Andress and Sean Connery (aka King Sean the First of Scotland) from the movie Dr No. Still, it saves on the copyright fee of using the real sample. A driving bass line underpins a hypnotic two chord tune sprinkled with more 007 impersonations and shows a chink of humour in the otherwise urban jungle feel of this album. A break of sixties' go-go sounding guitar lightens the feel of this track. Another stand-out track is "Slow Burn". With its smoky jazz club vibe, this is a deeply sensual wee number. Breathy vocal lines have sinuous saxophone phrases weaved around them, perfect music as background to what a Bluesbunny enjoys most - after carrots, of course!
A soulful and jazz influenced take on trip-hop, Enjea is not as grand and cinematic as some of the exponents of the style, and seems to prefer to dwell on urban angst and 21st century tension. Mainly based on minimal bass and drum arrangements, augmented at points with guitar and keyboards and including some "urban commentary" style raps, Enjea's music is dark but the arrangements can be a little repetitive. During the 42 minute of this album there is little variation in tempo, and the listener (me) would have appreciated a bit more sonic flavouring and more lighter moments such as "Nice Fit", even if "Slow Burn" defiantly gets a Bluesbunny in the mood.