Rise N Shine Ep

Over the last decade, Cory Champion has simultaneously existed within a multiplicity of musical dimensions. As a composer, bandleader, drummer and percussionist, he’s led the Clear Path Ensemble project through two albums of celestial, dance-tempo jazz for Cosmic Compositions and Soundway Records while also producing and DJing dubby techno, stripped-down electro, and soulful jazzy house as Borrowed CS. Along the way Champion has shared showbills with Brian Jackson, Tapes, Sadar Bahar, Eclair Fifi, Amp Fiddler, Helena Hauff, Shy One, and Benny Salvador.

For the Rise n Shine EP, his second Borrowed CS release through Sydney’s Planet Trip Records, the Wellington, New Zealand-based musician expands the infectious outsider boogie sound he explored on ‘Mystic Shuffle’ (off 2020’s Balance/Ascend EP) into a six-song suite of neon-lit machine funk, mutant post-disco and uptempo future soul. Draped in synthesisers that sparkle and glitter like summer sunlight hitting the harbour waters, the programmed Roland TR-606 drums and keyboard bass on these club tracks absolutely snap, wobble and groove.

From the space-aged melodies and throwback electro bounce of ‘All My People’ (featuring the pioneering British electronic soul vocalist Steve Spacek) to the dialled-in dancefloor weaponry of the title track and ‘Potplant’, the A-side of Rise n Shine unfolds like Friday night at a 1980s roller disco. On the flip, Champion reconnects with the idiosyncratic Māori singer-songwriter Mara TK to pen another golden-voiced chapter in the hi-tek South Pacific future soul story with ‘Hearsay’ before diving into some deep mid-tempo body music on ‘Subsonix’ and ‘Mystic Dream’. One for the dancefloor dreamers, Rise n Shine, will be available in 12” vinyl and digital.