Bluey

Bluey’s overall life perspective throughout Life Between the Notes is well articulated, anchored by his first-rate musicianship, sensitive lead vocals and a firm supporting cast of Incognito alumni including Richard Bull and Matt Cooper. For a world-class musician who has been there and done that personally and professionally, Bluey nails all the essentials, making Life Between the Notes an even more intriguing listening pleasure.

In 2013, Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick stepped out with his first solo album, Leap of Faith a stylistically varied set on which he performed the lead vocals but he quickly went to work on fresh material with the group he has led for over four decades. Leap of Faith evidently didn't drain his creativity, as Amplified Soul is another double-length Incognito album, 70 minutes in duration. Though it doesn't feature Maysa Leak or any collaborator on the level of Transatlantic R.P.M. contributors Chaka Khan, Leon Ware, and Al McKay, it certainly isn't short on powerful and uplifting lead vocal turns.

Back in 2000, Golden Bay Records released an album hailed as one of the best New Zealand produced ambient records of the decade. Featuring a warm, watery womb of sound that leaves you feeling naked and newborn, Bluey relies on the dislocating properties of dub to give a sense of strangeness and space, creating an effect that will have you sinking so deep into the upholstery, you'll need a ladder to climb out! A journey into all things deep, downbeat and dubby, the album opens with the epic, Rhythm and Sound-esque title track, which has been a crowd favourite every time Bluey has played live. While Just One More and 8m Swell are bouncy breaks numbers, and All The Time In The World and Sticky Pond fuse dub and trance tracks such as Skip'n'Swing show a more funky side…