This debut album from Opensouls has been five years in the making, with main-man Ota (aka Jeremy Toy) starting the process back in 2001 on his trusty MPC2000. He then enlisted the help of the extended Opensouls family to create this sumptuous and soulful album.
And what an extended family it is, with various members of Solaa, the Hollie Smith band, Fat Freddy’s Drop, and Che Fu & The Krates making up the core of Opensouls, with special guests Ladi6 and Karena Lyons (Feelstyle band) adding their own indelible stamps to the sound.
A couple of the tunes will already be familiar to local and international listeners. In Your Hands was voted Best Unreleased Song at the 2004 bNet Music Awards, and Turn It Up! has been a regular on the NZ bNet and Alt Radio charts and was released on vinyl in the UK resulting in a review from music mag Straight No Chaser: “Big funk tune alert! A low-down, grinding funk burner…”
The rest of the album is just as infectious: underpinned with a classic hip-hop vibe, but drawing inspiration from jazz, soul, reggae, funk and blues. A stylish debut, featuring some of New Zealand's finest musical talent. Highly Recommended.