Horn House feat. Young Gun Silver Fox -- Human Synths

Wikimedia Commons
via  Glenn Cote and Brent Spiner 

 

It's been a common trope for synthetic life forms to aspire and even attain humanity in science-fiction. Of course, we have Lieutenant Commander Data, MCEU's Vision and more recently, the Murderbot. Now, being an old "Star Trek" fan, I've known that good ol' Data has enjoyed the jazz standards and classical music. But perhaps in an alternate reality, the android may have decided to go for the stylings of AOR, soul and Quiet Storm instead.

That's the vibe I get while I'm listening to "Human Synths", the title track from the 2022 debut album by Horn House. Allow me to provide the direct quote about who they are from the "Smooth Jazz Daily" website:

Horn House is a horn-led studio band and brainchild of Tom Walsh & Nichol Thomson based in London, UK. Both have already worked together in various formations and genres. This project offers smooth jazz and soulful music featuring Emma Smith, Nate Williams, Nathan King and Young Gun Silver Fox.

And indeed, Horn House is working with Young Gun Silver Fox, a favourite of mine in the AOR field for a few years now, on "Human Synths" which has an android or similar form of synthetic life wonder about that strange concept known as love. It's quite the musically smoky, jazzy and mysterious nocturnal number which has me thinking of a really laid back Steely Dan or some of the Manhattan Transfer discography when they were aiming for a poppier sound in the late 1970s going into the early 1980s.

Yup, this isn't a Japanese song to finish Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP, but as I've been doing for the past couple of Fridays now, I have been going to the American and European stuff with Ole Børud and Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald. I've gotta thank the YouTube channel West Coast 99 for the inclusion of the fascinating Horn House along with the always wonderful Young Gun Silver Fox. The channel's been the biggest source of AOR for me...famous and obscure...since visiting Japanese CD stores.