Labrinth aims for James Bond theme glory

British singer, songwriter and music producer
Labrinth is putting the finishing touches to his new album ‘Take Me to the Truth’ which sees him move away from high energy riffs to the more soulful sound that started his career.

The first track ‘Let It Be’ is inspired by Nina Simone and James Brown but also has a rock influence from Electric Light Orchestra.

“My background is gospel. I actually came from gospel before I was kind of Mister ‘Earthquake’ and Mister ‘Pass Out’ so this album, I feel, is more consistent than the last. ‘Let It Be’ is a good introduction of the soundscape they’re going to hear on the album,” he said.

Labrinth, whose real name is Tim McKenzie, is known for collaborating with other top British artists.

He teamed up with Tinie Tempah on ‘Earthquake’ and ‘Pass Out’, scored a Billboard chart hit with Emile Sande on ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’ and is reported to have worked with Ed Sheeran, among others, for his new album.

But not all his partnerships are likely to make the final cut.

Labrinth said: “I worked with a lot of artists but I felt like those records were not quite fit for the album. I know a lot of people are like ‘What? Are you trying to say these artists are crap?’ And it’s like ‘No, no’, it’s just I have a direction for this album and some of the records we wrote had a vibe and it didn’t quite fit to what I wanted so…”

Aside from more solo work, Labrinth – who is signed to Simon Cowell’s label Syco – has ambitions to perform the next James Bond theme.

He’s vowed to pitch hard for the 24th Bond movie, which will go into production later this year.

“Yeah I was a big fan of James Bond when I was growing up – not the films but the soundtracks. I was a big fan of John Barrie and a lot of that style of orchestration so I wanted that sound on that record and this whole album has got some of this flavour,” he said.

The single ‘Let it Be’ is out now.