Don’t Know Why

Don’t Know Why

Bimbo Jones [Tommy boy]

14 October, 2008 | 3.25AM

• Written by: Kerri Mason
• Filed under: Music Recommendations: bimbo jones, katherine ellis, tommy boy

Before you write off Bimbo Jones as just another commercial act (their Eurythmics-esque first single ‘And I Try’ was the No. 1 club track in the country last week, according to Billboard), consider this: Bimbo vocalist Katherine Ellis has flexed her impressive pipes for everyone from Meat Katie, to Superchumbo, to Mark Knight.

She sounds like Moloko’s ravishingly quirky Roisin Murphy one minute, and the grand dame herself, Annie Lennox, the next.

Next to Jennifer Hudson, she might be the biggest and most exciting voice to release music this fall. 

The stuff on Bimbo’s debut long-player, ‘Harlem 1 Stop’, is radio- and mainstream dancefloor-ready, for the most part.

But buried at track 9 is a more flexible, dramatic little treasure called ‘Don’t Know Why’.

It sounds like that dub on the flip of an otherwise commercial remix package that made you keep the record – maybe even keep it secret, and whip it out only on special occasions.

There’s a flamenco pulse to the heavily strummed acoustic guitar, the menthol airiness of big-room trance, chamber orchestra strings, and Ellis’ looped voice, asking questions even she can’t answer.

It reminds us of something Deep Dish might have put on that first Renaissance compilation.

And we love that one.

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