Mixed Signals present Thomas & Taylor's ultra seductive Wet Silk project

Stripped proto-house and dub-heavy sonics courtesy of co-producer Patrick Adams

The Mixed Signals team have struck sonic gold once again, this time presenting an exceptionally rare dalliance into the stripped electronic soul from legendary soul duo, Lamar Thomas and Judy Taylor. On the Wet Silk project, the husband and wife pairing dispense the sugary-sweet soul sound for which they are famed in favour of an edgy proto-house effort. The result is effectively unrecognisable from the pop-tinged soul found on Thomas & Taylor's more commercial output - such as breakout UK hit 'You Can't Blame Love', or '80s soul ballad 'I Love You'. Though the tone may be different, the production team remained familiar for the Wet Silk adventure, with Thomas once again calling on long-time friend and frequent collaborator Patrick Adams to work his disco finesse into the cut.

On the delightfully playful 'Let Me Do You Baby', Thomas and Taylor's seductive vocals power over a determined 808 groove as piano stabs and guitar riffs interplay and soothing strings meander on the horizon line. Released here for the first time on 12”, this would be worth tracking down in itself, but happily for all of us, Mixed signals have packaged it neatly with a pair of similarly impressive Thom/Tay productions to further sweeten the deal. The ultra-rare house mix of Shelly Pearse's 'If You Want My Love' is certainly worth investing in, with the wonderfully raw Adams production providing an exquisite balance of bass-heavy grit and spaced-out dub textures, while the instrumental version of Thomas & Taylor's 'I'll Be Waiting' is endowed with the sweetest of sunset refrains.

Wet Silk 'S/T' is out February 5 on Mixed Signals as a Limited Edition of 100 with risograph printed artwork and hand-stamped covers (regular edition will follow later this year). You can buy it here