It’s no secret that life feels a little tough at the moment, the next time you want to escape check out the Leeds duo ‘Golden Gate’ their joyous fusion of disco, soul and house will transport you to better times.
Golden Gate – Enter The Golden Gate
United by a mutual love for Masters at Work’s classic Nuyorican Soul project, DJ/producer Tee Cooper and songwriter/vocalist Harper Lake assembled a cast of their favourite vocalists and musicians from across the world and started Golden Gate. The result: Enter The Golden Gate an EP that imbues classic house and classic disco with real heart.
The EP contains a total of four tracks, with two original tracks and two remixes.
Track one ‘Shine Like The Sun’ is a song about unexpected love and lust on the dancefloor. Harper duets on the track alongside the powerhouse, vocal talents of Adeleye Omotayo, a London soul vocalist known for his work with Gorillaz and Amy Winehouse. It’s a feel-good hit of disco instrumentation that revels in the spirit of 90s NYC house. It’s no wonder this track was received with great acclaim when debuted at Wilderness Festival.
The Shine Like The Sun Remix is provided by ‘The Reflex’ known for his seminal mixes of Cerrone and Duran Duran, this scorching rework loops up the keyboard part and teases all the live instruments across 8 gloriously tantalising minutes.
“Nuyorican Soul is definitely where the spark of inspiration came from,” Tee says, “we both absolutely love that LP. We usually write the songs as a duo and then bring in musicians to build them out with us, so our other main influences are two of the best songwriting duos Nile Rogers and Bernie Edwards from Chic and Ashford and Simpson. They both made music with depth and emotion in the lyrics but it always managed to have dancefloor energy and movement in the production. That’s the music we want to make.”
‘So High’ skews towards a more classic disco sound with a classic flute sound. The main rhythm section balances live drums and percussion with a classic 707 drum machine and snaking live electric bass. Harper sings solo, straight from the heart about looking for love in the wrong places.
The remix comes from Disco Express main man Bustin Loose, who strips things back soulfully and adds a classic breakbeat feel to the drums to round off the EP in true style.
“The Enter The Golden Gate EP comes straight from the heart to warm your soul fusing classic disco and soul.”
Both tracks feature a truly international cast of musicians. Guitars are Gary Haguenauer in Paris. Bass is played and recorded by Daniel Dubsworth in LA, horns and flutes are played by the rising star of Blue Note Records Parthenope while keys come from another London jazz up-and-comer Tom O’Brien.
While this is a new record from a new independent duo, the care, attention and fastidious craft on display immediately elevates this record to something much more than the sum of its parts. The drive to make disco and house music with real instruments and real people has paid off. This record comes from the heart to warm your soul. Enter The Golden Gate deserves its place in your record collection alongside the record that inspired it. Don’t we all need a little more Nuyorican Soul right now?
