An ambient beats-and-guitars duo comprising Saul Freeman and Nicola Hitchcock. Freeman's musical career began in the early 90s alongside David McAlmont in Thieves. Hitchcock, also a multi-instrumentalist, had released a solo album, A Bowl Of Chalk, in 1993. An innovative musical approach and ethereal female vocals saw them labelled as part of the trip-hop scene that was in vogue during the mid-90s, alongside bands such as Portishead, Moloko and Morcheeba. Their 1998 debut, Empathy, was a critical success, if not a commercial one. The follow-up Instinct was premiered by the single "Deep Love', that was released in two formats. Wearing their dance music credentials on their sleeves, the second version included mixes from Nitin Sawhney, Cevin Fisher and Sasha's studio partner, Charlie May. Instinct"s manifesto was old-fashioned, crafted songwriting combined with experimental, complex music and instrumentation. Influences that could be heard ranged from hip-hop, classical and jazz to the Cocteau Twins and the Art Of Noise. Two tracks, "Don't Invent Me" and "It's Enough Now" featured the subtle, muted trumpet work of Jon Hassell.

Listen to Mandalay at Finetune.

• Beautiful
• This Life
• Deep Love

• Massive Attack
• Morcheeba
• Thievery Corporation
• Kruder & Dorfmeister
• Jazzanova
• Supreme Beings of Leisure
• Fila Brazillia
• Weekend Players
• Blue States
• Baby Mammoth
• Da Lata
• Mark Farina
• DJ Cam
• Miguel Migs
• DJ Krush
• Slide Five
• P'taah
• LISMORE
• The New Orleans Social Club
• Widespread Panic

• djdream
• imoen246
• krackerjack
• angasm
• TeeWee30
• yorkman
• pussygalore5000
• carolyn54
• alexandraf78
• s3b
• futurepush
• athistraw
• DVDN
• OnaBerlin

• TeeWee30 on 2007-09-16 18:10:52.043:
  I have This Life on my DOAX soundtrack. Beautiful song.