The 3 Amigos are Jellybean Benitez, Marlon D and George Mena – a failsafe of funky US soulful house in the most capable hands. We Are One bears two piano chords swinging like a pendulum, a bassline with a busier sense of swaying, and horns that bloom nicely without going over the top. Nothing at all complex – as easy as breathing in, breathing out. So it’s all on Dawn Tallman to build the track up and belt out her best notes of inspiration and motivation (the usual ambiguity of praising her boo or the Lord Almighty), which for her is as easy as...well you can fill in the rest. Classic vocal house to perk up the frostbitten, who will further revel in the burning embers of The Layabouts mix.
Turning into a deliciously sexy night crawler has the North London Layabouts lowering the lights, pushing and pulling a chord shunt back and forth while letting its cauldron glow and simmer below plaintive strings and percussion plinks. The lingering, secretly flirtatious end result plays almost like forbidden fruit (especially on the instrumentals) compared to the NY hot-tub under the sun laid on by Temple Movement, and certainly doesn’t sound like the product of a teeth-chattering N postcode.