Murena Records

mmmmmm. Mood music. Slow Train is a collaboration between Morten Varano - of excellent but criminally undersung (in this country) Italo/ Danish dance duo Puddu Varano - and fine vocalist/ scat poet Lady Z who performs regularly on London soul-jazz club scene under the name Z Star. She´s worked with Asian Dub Foundation, Natacha Atlas, Terry Callier and sang on Puddu Varano´s album of last year "Time To Grow", but Slow Traincasts Lady Z (as in 'zee') in a different light again. Her cool and earthy, molten chocolate tones vaguely recall both Eartha Kitt and funkier Sherley Bassey and are perfectly suited to this sophisticated but soulful blending of deep house, vintage funk andjazz-toned breaks. Illegal Cargo is chilled and dead classy, there´s no denying it but with none of the blandness or glassy-eyed cool that might suggest. It´s also admirably diverse: the epynomous bookend tracksrecall Patti Smith reciting poetry over a Lalo Schifrin film score; 'Twisted Cupid' comes on like Sade with cojones , prowling around rainstreaked streets with Varano´s sweet keys and Lady Z's guitar for company; 'Naturally' finds the chanteuse in a jazz cellar with her Dexter Gordon records and say Lazy Dog's Ben Watt; and 'Trail Of Dawn' delivers ragga tones with a distinctive tribal pulse and subtle, bass bin rumble. Much more than a foil for Lady Z's vocals, 'Illegal Cargo' reveals Slow Train as a sleek, turbo-charged, thoroughly contemporary vehicle.