Everything I Need / Custard Shoulder

Internationally Celebrated Australian R&B Artist Daniel Merriweather Releases Double A-Side Single, With Rising Melbourne Eight-Piece WVR BVBY, From ForthcomingSeven WondersCompilation.

He's one of Australia's most celebrated musical talents. And now virtuoso soul singerDaniel Merriweatherwill release his first headline music in a decade with 'Everything I Need', the first single fromSeven Wonders– a new compilation of essential groove-led music from Melbourne, Australia byPlug Seven RecordsandWondercore Island.

The track is a mixture of unbridled spontaneity and microscopic perfectionism. Merriweather currently lives in the UK, where he achieved platinum sales of his debut albumLove & War.But it was on a trip to his hometown of Melbourne that 'Everything I Need' was conceived.

After attending a club show by acclaimed jazz pianist and close friend Barney McAll – who also contributed the track'Sweet Water' toSeven Wonders– the pair, along with in-demanddrummer Felix Bloxsom (Christina Aguilera, Sia, Jamie Lidell), decamped to the Plug Seven Records studio. It was in this Easey Street studio filled with recording equipment dating back to the 1940s that the seeds of 'Everything I Need' were sown into reels of analogue tape during a 1am recording session.

What came out of this session was a stripped back track featuring Merriweather's gospel-inspired vocals, keys and percussive handclaps. Merriweather then took the recording toHiatus Kaiyote'sPaul Bender,who fleshed it out with West Coast G-funk elements. The track was then finished in London with the producerQuayswho added modern sonic flourishes to its timeless soul aesthetic.

"The song itself is a deeply spiritual song, it has a powerful message of standing for internal truths and honesty, and not being corrupted by evil forces," says Wondercore Island founderSi Gould.

On the flip of the double A-side single is instrumental track 'Custard Shoulder' from rising Melbourne eight-pieceWVR BVBY– which last year released its astounding self-titled debut LP on Plug Seven Records. The new track is described by the band as a "reflection upon a breakup … a tribute to a favourite childhood dessert, the comfort of a shoulder to lean on and the value of friendship within music." The track is a swirling, downbeat, jazz-funk reverie in which drums skitter and horns yearn.

'Everything I Need' and 'Custard Shoulder' are vital slices of Australian soul and jazz that show how despite Melbourne's geographically remote location, its groove-led music has the power to cross oceans.

The double A-side single 'Everything I Need' and 'Custard Shoulder' is out now on Plug Seven Records and Wondercore Island.