Miss 600 - Buying Time

by Dave Goodwin

published: 8 / 5 / 2013

Label: Membran
Format: CD

Polished but repetitive debut album from much hyped Derby-based jazz pop duo, Miss 600

Review

‘Buying Time, Miss 600’s debut album, displays their talent for simple catchy pop tunes with a generous jazz twist, and also includes collaborations with Maxi Priest, Sam Beeton, Sonna Rele and the legendary Ennio Morricone. Multi-instrumentalist David Amar has been playing since he was a kid, while singing sensation Hannah Garner started out on a YouTube channel upon which she uploaded tracks of herself singing various cover songs, a cappella-style into a web cam. It turned out that hundreds of thousands of fans viewed the songs, and four thousand actually subscribed to the channel due to the professional way they looked and felt. Hannah was, however, only 17 years old at the time. The story goes that, shortly after Hannah and David then got together, ex-Climax Blues Band member and producer Chris Bucknall checked out the duo at Ryan's Bar in Derby and was so intrigued that, when he bumped into them again during a chance trip to The Venue in Derby where Hannah and David where playing, he made inroads into doing something with them. Bucknall himself is responsible for producing Sony/BMG's Sam Beeton, and ended up signing them to Cubit Recordings. He then took them into his Nottingham-based Nursery Studios, and began recording the album with them and the album's other producer Robert de Fresnes. After enjoying massive exposure towards the end of 2011 by getting over 3000 plays on UK radio with their debut single 'Twist', their next single, 'Missing You', made playlists across the UK. Live performances on 'Dancing with the Stars' in front of millions, and further exposure on Sir Terry Wogan's BBC Radio 2 Show, helped Miss 600 make the BBC Radio 2 playlist again with their third single, 'Typically Me'. This is an album that you're either going to love or hate. They are obviously liked by a hell of a lot of people. Me? I'm on the fence on it. It's very reminiscent of Caro Emerald in places, which isn't a bad thing. There are moments on the album that are reflective of the Miss 600 sound as the three singles pulled from it will testify. It is a very polished and professionally produced piece of work. My only gripe, if you could call it that, is that some of the tracks feel done before. At the moment jazz-influenced music is very popular, so it needs to be slightly different or done very well to stand out from the rest. Vocally Hannah is superb with her sultry, sexy and sometimes vulnerable voice, and the music created by the Amar is totally danceable and ripe for many remixes to come. It is a very, very good debut, but I'm going to be very interested to see how they are going to better or to vary the next album.

Track Listing:-

1 Missing You
2 More to Learn
3 Typically Me
4 Kick off Your Shoes
5 Twist
6 Dance with You
7 Make or Break
8 Money Can't Buy
9 Hello
10 Is This Love?
11 Buying Time
12 Outta' My Head
13 Be Careful Where You Leave Your Heart
14 The Devil Looks out for His Own

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/miss600
http://www.miss600.com/
https://twitter.com/miss600official
https://www.youtube.com/user/hannahgar
https://www.instagram.com/miss600offic