Now, much-loved reggae and jazz drummer Kenrick Rowe has joined them to play live; Steve Cradock (Ocean Color Scene, Paul Weller) is on guitar; Nikolaj Torp Larson plays keyboards and, along with Hall, Golding and Panter, wrote and produced the new album, Encore. And arranged the release of new material that changes everything. “All this,” says Panter, gesturing around the studio. He means photoshoots and interviews. "You forget, that’s what albums do."
Encore is strong, musically, with an unexpectedly broader palette that takes in disco, funk and oompah as well as reggae. For original fans, there are callbacks. The lead single, Vote for Me, opens up with ascending Ghost Town-style chords, and there's three covers: of the Equals' 1970 track, Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys, of Blam Blam Fever (Gunfever) by the Valentines (1967) and of the Fun Boy Three's The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum. Prince Buster, a huge influence on the band (Gangsters, their first single, was a reworking of Buster’s Al Capone), is referenced in 10 Commandments, featuring the words and vocals of activist Saffiyah Khan. Appar a clap-back to Buster’s 1966 track that, for the benefit of any Buster-fancying woman, listed his 10 jokily chauvinistic lady friend requirements. (Prince Buster also made Princess Buster’s original 1967 answer track.)
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