- In the final minutes of the recording of Plastic People's closing party in January 2015, the music stops and you can hear cries of "one more tune" from the crowd. Floating Points, playing that night alongside Four Tet, duly obliges and puts on one of his cherished 45s: "The Power Of Your Love" by Spirit Of Love. Listening back to that beautiful, bittersweet night, it's not hard to understand why Sam Shepherd picked this 1978 gospel song for such a poignant moment. About three-quarters in, the singer lets out a wail filled with so much emotion that it sounds as if she's doing lasting damage to her larynx.
Floating Points isn't the only DJ who has played "The Power Of Your Love," but he is partly responsible for its reissue. Euan Fryer, the founder of the Edinburgh label Athens Of The North, says he had "all but forgotten" about the tune when he heard Floating Points play it at Plastic People that night. Written by Calvin Bridges, "The Power Of Your Love" is great for the reasons you'd expect from a gospel song—its instrumentation is rich and it has those magnificent, soaring call-and-response vocals.
Fryer has paired the A-side with "He's Alright," also credited to Spirit Of Love. It's a bold, lively tune that Fryer says he played "when everyone hated gospel disco records." Fryer is alluding to the fact that gospel music has been making something of a comeback. Hunee and Motor City Drum Ensemble have recently been playing "Awake O Zion" by Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, and MCDE also included another gospel tune, Raphael Green's "Don't Mess With The Devil," in his Selectors compilation. Away from the dance floor, Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book and Kanye West's The Life of Pablo, two of 2016's biggest hip-hop records, were both notable for their gospel influences. It's likely this revived interest will settle down soon enough, but both songs on this 7-inch should outlive any trends.
TracklistA The Power Of Your Love
B He's Alright