Wrap Yourself Up in This Track from Sampha and XL Boss Richard Russell

Owning the label that’s put out records by modern greats like Adele, M.I.A., and Radiohead clearly is not enough of a challenge for Richard Russell. The XL Recordings co-founder is now releasing his own music through a project called Everything is Recorded.

First announced back in March, Russell has a number of big names – including Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel and Mark Ronson – on board, and he premiered a finished track, “Close But Not Quite,” which features vocals by Sampha, on BBC Radio 1 last night with MistaJam (listen from 02:25):

“Close But Not Enough” is rich, warm and melodic, and it has real lift – not to mention the most perfectly placed Curtis Mayfield sample. Russell previously played the track live with Sampha on Reprezent Radio back in March (listen from 53:56), but now we have the entirely finished version. It certainly benefits from the polish of production, and sets expectations high for the rest of Russell’s project. It takes a certain amount of guts to hop in the studio and lay down a vocal track that you know is going to be compared to Sampha’s crackly, rich tones too. Fair play, Richard.

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(Image by Matt Seger)