Alchemical is the new widescreen collaborative music project from two London-based musicians: stunning singer songwriter Aisling Iris and talented bassist/producer Mike Flynn. First meeting by chance at a late night jazz festival jam session the duo subsequently found an instant creative rapport and began writing a huge amount of material over the following 18-months. The first fruits of this collaboration is the State of Grace EP, which brings together strong melodies, rich vocal harmonies, poignantly personal lyrics, head-bobbing grooves and thrilling jazz solos. The four songs are among a dozen or more written by Aisling and Mike and embody a genre hopping approach that brings together soul, jazz, funk and electronica.

Opening track ‘State of Grace’ has the quality of a hypnotic meditative chant lulling the listener into it’s sonic cocoon. ‘Weather’ dives into an existential universe – with a thought provoking quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson – with Aisling’s voice soaring around a constellation of drum’n’bass beats and darting melodies; ‘Protect Me’ is an ode to the healing power of sound that takes the listener on an intertwined bass and vocal exploration and ‘Dawn Chorus’ is a hymn to keeping faith in an often cynical world.

Throughout the tracks Aisling’s beautiful vocals and her numerous harmonic layers are complemented by a fine band featuring Mike’s propulsive bass lines, chords and melodies with featured solos from acclaimed young guitar star Rob Luft (on ‘State of Grace’ and ‘Protect Me’) and brilliant jazz keyboardist Sam Crowe (‘Weather’) plus a sumptuous string arrangement written and performed by Brighton-based violinist Ben Sarfas (‘Dawn Chorus’). Longtime Grace Jones’ drummer Andrew McLean plays brilliantly on all tracks with a deft mix of dynamics and flair with additional Fender Rhodes and Hammond from renowned jazz keyboardist Chris Jerome (‘Dawn Chorus’).