The D.O.T. should not work. Take Mike Skinner from The Streets and pair him with The Music’s Rob Harvey and hope for the best? Nope. Sorry. No way. But then you take a second to to listen to And That, the duo’s debut that mixes rock, pop, hip hop, trip hop, electro, and everything else under the sun and you’re suddenly a helluva lot more optimistic about this venture.
Credit opener “And A Hero” for being the perfect introduction to this “band” as Harvey and Skinner mesh wonderfully together amidst amazing beats and intriguing programming. “You Never Asked” is destined to become the next hip hop anthem while further into And That “Like You Used To” has the best Rob Harvey vocal line ever and then it settles into this nice groove thanks to Skinner’s expertise lulling listeners into a false sense of security until the raunchy, yet sweet, chorus kicks in.
“Right Side Of Madness” treads trip hop not so subtly while “Weapon Of Choice” is a bi-polar monster that features Skinner on lead for most of the outing until Harvey enters half way through for the sinister song within a song. Later still, “Colours That Don’t Exist” is just an all around great pop song that proves why this Skinner/Harvey pairing is pure magic.
And That is out digitally now. Find your own copy here.
Grade: A
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