MORCHEEBA

JOY. Concerts Present MORCHEEBA + Alex Cornish Thirty years ago, a chance meeting at a South London party led to one of the most enduring and creative partnerships in British electronic music. After that first encounter, the budding multi instrumentalist Ross Godfrey from Kent, only 18 at the time, heard that Skye the East Londoner sang and wrote songs, so he invited her round his flat share in Dalston. “Ross asked me who I sounded like. And I said: ‘I don’t sound like anyone.’” Not, Skye clarifies with an apologetic smile, in an arrogant way. “I didn’t know who I was. So I just wanted to present myself. I played a song on my guitar, very quietly, and they loved my voice. And the rest is history.” That’s a three-decades-deep history. One that’s encompassed 10 previous studio records, over 10 million albums sold, countless world tours, solo albums, film soundtracks and the inevitable spins of the line-up carousel. You don’t become trip hop royalty without some interesting detours along the way. And you don’t become enduring artists, beloved of multiple generations and lauded across the music industry – see, most recently, last summer’s invitation from Chaka Khan to headline her Meltdown Festival at the Southbank in London – if you don’t learn how to Escape the Chaos. And if you’re Morcheeba, a musical byword for comfort and calm, you’re taking your fans with you. “Absolutely,” affirms Skye.