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Reviewed by Amanda Mills

Hopetoun Brown: Look So Good

Reviewed by Amanda Mills

Hopetoun Brown: Look So Good

Only a year ago Hopetoun Brown (aka Supergroove’s horn section of Tim Stewart and Nick Atkinson) released their first album which gained a hugely positive response. For their second outing they’ve gone bigger and bolder, recruiting Tami Neilson for two of the best tracks on the album – the storming Hate That I Don’t Love You (written by Stewart and Neilson) and the sultry, authentic St James Infirmary Blues, which features particularly strong and intertwining vocals from the pair who bounce off each other brilliantly. Tami Neilson isn’t the only guest vocalist here either, Marlon Williams providing descending harmony vocals on Let It Show that features a lovely piano figure, and also on Atkinson’s ska-influenced Long Time Ago. Recorded at The Sitting Room in Lyttelton and The Lab in Auckland, ‘Look So Good’ sounds great, each instrument having enough space to pack a punch, especially the horns, which are fundamental to the band’s aesthetic. It’s a short album at only eight tracks, but just as they did on ‘Burning Fuse’, Atkinson and Stewart have created a record that succeeds on pretty much all levels, leaving the listener wanting more.