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There’s real alchemy at work on DIG!, the 6th studio album by UK 5-piece band Mamas Gun – a rare creative brotherhood of passionate musicians with a knack for making music that sounds and feels timeless.

Andy Platts – the songwriting frontman with the golden falsetto; Drummer Chris Boot – the band’s backbone, supplying the heaviest grooves with a jazz player’s lightness of touch; Bass player Cameron Dawson, flowing and fearlessly echoing the spirit of James Jamerson but with a melodic sound uniquely his own; Terry Lewis, a guitarist whose taste, feel and vocabulary bring a crucial warm old school authenticity, and last but by no means least; Dave Oliver, a dynamic keys player whose profound command of the piano, wurlitzer and hammond organ joins the dots from jazz to gospel to soul with ease.

And what a sound this is – truly authentic, organic and deeply soulful – all recorded by engineer/studio owner Neil Innes straight to 16 track analogue tape at All Things Analogue Studios in Leeds, UK. The mission statement: to capture the sound of 5 individual musicians at the very top of their game, coming together to bring 11 lovingly crafted songs to life in a way that celebrates the best of the past and the present. The result is hugely successful, yielding intimate performances that put you in room with the band whilst the magic unfolds.

DIG! is certainly a special album, furthered so because it sees the group team with legendary American artist Brian Jackson, Gil Scott Heron’s songwriting partner and collaborator of artists including Roy Ayers, Earth Wind & Fire, and whose work is still frequently sampled by the likes of Kendrick Lamar. Featuring on the stand out jazz-funk styled title track “DIG!”, the collaboration feels like a band high point. “What an absolute honour!”, states Chris Boot.

The themes covered in DIG! are universal. Those of love, family, hope, redemption, and like all great soul music, finding uplift in times of downturn. Whilst much of the album’s arrangements and production credits are largely spread across the group, at the centre of the songwriting is Andy Platts, but whose collaboration with the other band members and others, such as longtime writing-partner Conner Reeves adds further musical variety and lyrical interest.

In turbulent times, Mamas Gun’s music certainly connects and is a welcome balm for the soul. Uplifting, questing, nourishing and golden, DIG! is a pure delight to experience and without a doubt their most accomplished album to date. — (via WillWork4Funk)

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Hard to believe, but it was way back in 2007 that the UK’s finest blue-eyed soul group Mamas Gun got together; they debuted in 2009 with the album, ‘Routes To Riches’ from which the ballad ‘Pots Of Gold’ marked the outfit out as “one to watch” and indeed that’s exactly what the savvy soul crowd did – relishing each new release. Oddly, given the quality of their music,  the band haven’t quite made the Premier League – but that  doesn’t seem to bother the boys. Main man Andy Platts says, “For us, success is not about selling millions of records, but making better records with each step we take and to be able to really connect to people through the music.” Bass player Cameron Dawson adds, “There’s a strong truth to what we do. It’s about us as a group, five musicians in a room, bouncing off one another, getting into the groove, you can’t fake that, it’s as real as it gets.”

And that’s exactly what you get on this, MG’s brand new album – a music that you can’t fail to connect with, a music that’s groove-heavy, a music that’s as real as it gets… proper soul if you would!  All that was evident on the album’s three taster singles – ‘Food For The Flames’ a gentle, harmonic soul groove which uses fire as a central metaphor, the soulful ‘DIG!’ which featured guest input from garlanded US soul and jazz multi tasker Brian Jackson (quite a coup  for MG!) and the big, building ‘Joy’ which as the title suggests, delivered bags of optimism and positivity. — (via Soul&Jazz&Funk)

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Six albums deep, Mamas Gun aren’t chasing the genre; they’re following their own directive. DIG! keeps returning to the same command: scratch past the surface, burn the deadwood, get past phony friends, dust, decay—until you reach whatever counts as salvation underneath.

And yes, there’s a practical undercurrent here too. Platts has enough of a working life on both sides of the Atlantic to fund what he wants. Alongside the Mamas Gun climb through albums like Golden Days (2018) and Cure the Jones (2023), he co-fronts Young Gun Silver Fox, his west-coast soul duo with Shawn Lee—a project that’s pulled off number-one singles in Japan and South Korea while staying mostly invisible at home.

That context matters because it explains why DIG! feels willfully non-strategic in the best way. If you wanted maximum algorithm friendliness, you wouldn’t sit in a Leeds tape room with Brian Jackson on keys and write about feeding fires every day. You’d chase trends. This album chooses craft over reach, and that’s either admirable or stubborn depending on your patience. — (via Architeg)

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Label: Légère Recordings
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Released: 2026
Genre: Funk / Soul

File under: Funk / Soul
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