Christian Gregory D'Angelo Untitled Square
The status of D'Angelo's next record remains unknown, but British soul singer Christian Gregory sure brought some Voodoo back to Brooklyn. Gregory unveiled a new live video this morning, a fantastically sparse cover of D'Angelo's now-classic "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," which Okayplayer is very proud to debut below. The clip features Gregory nailing a solo arrangement of the neo-classic, accompanied by only himself on the electric guitar as sunset paints the rooftops of Brooklyn many different shades of gold. Recorded during his most recent trip to America in support of his Count On You EP, this "Untitled" is understated and gently beautiful--Gregory's silky falsetto stands in well for D's trademark yowl, and the ambient sounds of New York City dusk crawl their way in between the chords.
Earlier this year Gregory told Okayplayer just how important a role D'Angelo, The Roots and the entire Soulquarians collective played in the formation of his own sound growing up in Oxford. "Untitled" may very well be that collective's magnum opus, and to cover it is to invite some mighty fierce criticism. Gregory, though, pulls the rendition off with grace. "I only ever saw it as an interpretation, really," he said. "Maybe it's because I've listened to Voodoo a million times. I just stripped it down to what I thought would be different and cool."
What Gregory can remember of the video shoot is now a bit surreal; the night before he, bassist Miles James and other cronies from his startup Movement Records label had been hopping from show to show. The entire group slept in late and had a plane to catch the next day, but Gregory was determined to give Brooklyn a proper send-off with one of his favorite tunes, and so with his a still-shaky head he carted his guitar, a mic and camera crew to the Williamsburg rooftop to play. He even hinted to us that the D'Angelo cut might reappear in his future live sets, which means both sides of the pond better be on high alert.
