Photo by Khali Ackford
Producer Sam Redmore has joined forces with vocalist Lumi HD for a cover of the Dames Brown track ‘What Would You Do?’.
The original version of Dames Brown’s ‘What Would You Do?’ features Andrés and the late, great Detroit producer, musician, and singer Amp Fiddler. More of a funky, disco-infused record, Sam Redmore takes the track and gives it a jazzy broken-beat makeover. Lumi HD’s vocals are incredible topping the track off with pure, unadulterated soul. With the production equipped with vibrant horns, as well as strings, Redmore have crafted a magnificent and respectful version of Dames Brown’s already stellar cut.
Regarding the track, Sam Redmore mentioned:
“What Would You Do? started life as an instrumental piece of music commissioned by BBC 6 Music for Craig Charles to perform a piece of poetry entitled ‘It Began In Africa’ over for National Poetry Day 2023.
By the time it was broadcast I’d become really fond of the track and was keen to develop it into a full song. I’d been playing the original version of Dames Brown’s ‘What Would You Do?’ in my DJ sets since its release in 2022, and always had it in mind as something that would be fun to re-work.
There are tonnes of covers of classic songs out there, and I like the idea of re-imagining something that’s a little less ubiquitous. When I dropped the acapella over the instrumental demo however, my original intention was just to see how the track sounded with a soulful, female vocal over the top, rather than to make a cover of it.
It really hooked me in the way the vocals fitted with the instrumental – in particular the string melodies – and I knew instantly there was no other option than to build it around this song.
Naturally, regular collaborator and all-round amazing vocalist Lumi HD was the first person I called about recording on this, and we set to work on re-arranging the track into a more traditional verse-chorus song style than the Dames Brown original. I still love the original, and hopefully my version does it justice!”