New music: Manchester neo-soul trio Liquid Beach splice genres on new single Empathy

Manchester trio Liquid Beach blend jazz, soul and house into the mix of their ‘sun-soaked’ sound. Despite being based in the mighty ‘rain city’, their music has the power to transport the listener to sunnier climates. With a shared love of all things that groove, they utilise live instrumentation and electronic production to create something quite unique.

Formed back in 2018, the band comprise of Alex Cardwell, Lewis Foster and vocalist Lila Hutchinson and together they have been pretty prolific in their releases and gigging. Bursting onto the scene with singles like I Want To Make You Feel and Floating, EP This Is What You Need was released in 2019 while their debut album Retrograde swiftly followed earlier this year. Lockdown didn’t slow them any either, as Lewis and Alex hosted a weekly livestream aptly named Sand System via Youtube each Friday evening – filled with live music to brighten up your living rooms, whatever the weather.

This Friday 30 October, the band are back with brand new single Empathy – something the world could really do with right now. This neo-soul song sends a strong message of the need for compassion and understanding in life. Kicking off with the funky riff of an acoustic guitar, Hutchinson’s vocals dance across the track beautifully with the chorus explaining “I’m not your enemy / Don’t try to label me / We just need empathy”. It’s about the judgement and assumptions people make about each other – in regards to skin tone, accent, appearance – rather than the content of their character as a human being.

With a striking music video, filmed by Lewis Hancock, we’re taken from black and white into joyful technicolour. A sequence of different faces across a mix of backgrounds – from nature to colourful artwork and graffiti. Complete with a sunny saxophone sound and a bluesy bass-line – Liquid Beach have succeeded in bringing not only a serious message to the table, but an irresistibly danceable track. Listen to Empathy below, or support the band on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify.