TEAM RNS PRESENTS

TITLE: Shoulder 2 Shoulder

209kbps avg - Electronic
1hr 13min total-115.2mb

RELEASE DATE: 2004-05-31
RIP DATE: 2004-04-16

03 Move On (Full Strings Mix)     6:41
04 Into The Arena                 5:09
05 Shoulder 2 Shoulder            7:44

Who exactly is Envoy? Is he the modern
day techno soul man, the singer who
pours out his heart on tracks like
Emotional? Or is he the king of strings,
the musical genius who makes club
symphonies like Dark Manoeuvres?
Perhaps hes a sexy, Chicago house
legend with a penchant for carnal
classics like Sex Drive or a robotic
machine funker with little regard for
humanity? Maybe Envoy is really the fly
in pop musics ointment, the vocalist who
looks to shatter the manufactured boy band
stranglehold with his soulful, spiritual
intonations on the soon to be huge Move

The reality though, is that Envoy, real
name Hope Grant, is all of these things
and much more, an enigmatic electronic
music character, as complex and
unpredictable as his multi-faceted work.
His new album Shoulder 2 Shoulder is
released on Soma Records May 2004.

Fabric, London, 21st Feb 2004. Its a
full house and the atmosphere in the
venue is bristling with anticipation as
Envoy prepares to take to the stage. If
you could bottle and sell the mood in
the crammed venue, youd never need to
work again. This is Envoys first live
performance in two years
since he was the lead vocalist on a
year-long world tour to promote Slams
Alien Radio album, but now hes ready
to take the UK capital in style. As the
intro to Into the Arena seeps through
the speakers, a familiar voice from the
back of the venue introduces himself.
Even before the initial
applause has subsided, Envoy is centre
stage, working the crowd into a second
wave of frenzied acclaim.

Stamping the mike stand in time to the
beats and flicking his dreadlock mane
up and down and from side to side, Envoy
is radically different to his
softly-spoken off stage persona. Hes the
front man, a role hes visibly
comfortable with. Hands outstretched and
with a mile wide toothy grin, like a
techno evangelist, he points to the sky
and urges the sweaty throng to come
into the light and let yourselves go.

At other times during the performance,
his voice is moody and ominous, like a
deranged preacher announcing the coming
of the apocalypse. Centre stage
throughout, Envoy also uses his vocal
talent to deep effect and, on other
occasions, his singing is sleazier,
twisted and darker, a different sound
to the utopian feel of classic Envoy
material like Emotional.

Envoys live shows, as well as his
imminent second album Shoulder 2
Shoulder, will serve to confuse anyone
who had Hope Grant as just a producer
who merely tried to spice up his tracks
with the odd vocal. He has been signed
to Scottish label Soma since 1995 and,
unsurprisingly, originally comes from
a singer-songwriter background.

When I was young, I was hugely into
Prince and wanted to write songs. Im
still just as comfortable playing Elton
John songs on my piano at home, he
laughs. I used to hate acid house because
it didnt have a chorus, but then I
started going to clubs and buying tunes
and it began to make sense, he
recalls. I had an affinity with Detroit
techno - although I didnt know what it
was called at the time - and put song
writing on hold.

However, before he began creating his
own techno symphonies, bizarrely, Envoy
enjoyed a stint in rave combo Bizarre
Inc who now work as Chicken Lips.

They wanted to turn into a jazz-funk
band and wanted me as the singer, he
explains. But I was only in the band for
six months. The major label wanted them
to churn out loads more versions of
Playing With Knives and werent
interested in them progressing. The
experience left me with a sour taste in
my mouth towards major labels and drove
me towards independent labels.

When Hope started releasing dance music,
his first outlets were respected
underground imprints Peacefrog and Plink
Plonk - where he released as St Vitus
Dance and Urban Groove Alliance
respectively. Then, in 1995, Hope met Slam
and his first demos became his debut EPs
for the label, Solitary Mission and
Heart Of The Soul.

Envoys name became a byword for soulful
techno, but Hope says that when Carl Cox
used the dramatic string groove of Dark
Manoeuvres from the Coalition EP for
his FACT mix CD, things started to take
off. Hope also believes that being signed
to Soma made his ascent a smoother ride.
But when Soma released their Soma 50
compilation, Hope felt it was time for

It was a real turning point, I could
sense a shift in the label, he explains.
It seemed like the standard went up.
Once I heard that album, I knew that I
needed to do something to set me apart. I
thought there were people who did
instrumental stuff better, so I decided
to start singing.

He may hail from a musical background,
but Hope says that he never received any
formal training for his soaring vocals.
Hopes high pitched vocal on Emotional,
the taster single for his 1998 debut
album, Wheres There Life, was
characterised by a soulful tinge. But it
was his sleazy, nocturnal narrative on
Sex Drive also taken from his debut
long player and released as a single in
2002 that cast him as a darker, figure.
Set to a dirty Chicago house backing, it
hinted at the multitude of possibilities
Hope is set to unleash on his second

I started doing that style live and
thats how it all started. Its my sleazy
side and went unnoticed on the album.
It was something new for me and also
something I want to do more of, as much
as the melodic stuff he maintains.

However, the main musical theme on
Envoys debut album was still the lush
and emotive techno soul that he hinted at
on his initial EPs. Its a style that
Hope believes still sounds fresh. I
will always be into that Detroit
sound. Whenever I think that its dead
or dated, along comes a new great record
in that vein that blows me away, he says.

However, before Envoy could plan his
second album, he embarked on a
promotional tour for his debut that turned
into an eighteen month global trek and
then joined Slam on their year-long
tour to promote Alien Radio.

In between touring continuously for
nearly three years, Envoy managed to
record his second long player, due for
release in May 2004. Shoulder 2
Shoulder is a more diverse work than its
predecessor and casts Envoy as an
enigmatic, unpredictable character.
Compare and contrast the lush,
string-led Detroit techno of Is This
with the dark drums of Into The Arena
and the driving bass of U Can Go, where
an eerie sounding Envoy spurns a lover.
Like an android, Hopes detached tones
open up a more sinister side to his

However, it would be inaccurate to
consign Envoy to the realms of technoid
androgyny. Theres a hip-grinding feel
to the sexy tech of the 303-flecked Red
Mist, the mid-tempo Intervals oozes
futuristic seduction - and Envoys
resuscitation of the Ricksters classic
acid house number, Night Moves, takes
it back to the old skool for a version
that bristles with
unbridled passion. Title track Shoulder
2 Shoulder is one the true album
highlights, an outstanding example of
stirring vocals combined with hi-tech
funk which also features live sax.

Its not all just corporeal thrills
though: new tracks like Stargazer
rekindle Hopes love of lush techno and
sensuous vocals, with Grant pointing to
the cosmos for fulfilment for the soul.
The theme of spirituality appears
elsewhere on the album, especially on
the emotive musicality of Move On,
where Envoy plays popstar in waiting. If
Hope is destined to enjoy mainstream
success, then it will be with a track
like this. Co-produced with Soma
label-mate Ewan Pearson its mellow and
deep yet catchy enough to crossover,
Grants soft, sexy vocals will woo even
the most cynical listener.

Its the best thing I have ever done and
is a real departure from what Ive made
before, he says.

The strings on this production have
been supplied by a twenty-nine piece
orchestra and the arrangement is by
classical/film composer Craig Armstrong.
Craig who won a Golden Globe in 2002
for his score of Moulin Rouge has
added a magical, melancholic slant to
this extraordinary song.

Irrespective of the fickle whims of the
commercial market and the music
industry, Shoulder 2 Shoulder is one of
the finest electronic works of recent
years. It sees the enigma that is Envoy
lay bare his soul and that makes for a
masterpiece of epic proportions.