OXFORD YOU AND ME

"Warm" is such a great state to be. It contains within it all the pleasant feelings associated with being warm - in the literal sense, as a temperature, being warm is not generally an uncomfortable thing; a warm cup of tea (or coffee whatever) is still drinkable; a warm bath is positively delectable; a warm bed is inviting. Then you have warm friendships - why would we use the word "warm" for such a delightful concept as a "warm friendship"? Same goes for a warm welcome, or a warm reception. Can you be "warmly" invited somewhere, too? Probably.

You can also have warm music. Warm tones, warm sounds. And that is exactly the word I'd use to describe the cooling-on-the-windowsill-but-still-not-long-taken-from-the-oven sounds of Oxford and his song 'You And Me'. You know, this is the third song I've written about this year with that title - one by Disclosure (which is actually 'You ampersand Me') and one by Real (which is actually 'You plus Me'). So it's a popular epithet.

Anyway, back to Oxford. He is actually a man, not a place in England, called Antoine Rigail and he is from Toulouse, a place in France, which as we all know is the opposite of England. I'm only joking. Or am I? Not to worry because the focus here is actually on this lovely song, this lovely WARM song. Get warm.

Don't you feel much warmer? Everything about this song just oozes a comfortable fits-all flavour, kind of like a really nice pair of shorts that you'd wear to the beach. I'm not a girl so I don't have any knowledge of the equivalent. Sorry. But what a sound. As chilled as it is funky, in an entirely minimalist way - the single warm and soft sustain synth chords begin each bar, accompanied by the wonderfully simple muted two-note guitar melody. The deeply groovesome bassline steps on a light-up piano as bridge, all the way to your ears to dance away next to your ear drums, egged on by the tireless beat.

Towards the end, everything starts to get a bit more synthy, more bouncy, all the time - from start to finish - overseen by this cooling female vocal sample from the upper air, on a cloud perhaps. Solo synths too. But what you need to remember is the utter funk and utter chill that this man can create. Excellent, excellent stuff.

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