The Layabouts

Some 13 years have now passed since organic soulful house sorts The Layabouts delivered double A-side single 'Do Better/Perfectly', back then a taster for their lusciously love, musically expansive and life-affirming debut album Future Retro. It's nice to see the single return to stores in remastered reissued form, not least because both cuts are wonderfully sunny, soul-soaked and undeniably gorgeous. 'Do Better' is up first, with the North London trio adding Portia Monique's superb lead vocals to a live-sounding deep house groove rich in undulating bass guitar, drowsy electric piano licks and colourful, boogie-influenced synths. 'Perfect', meanwhile, is a delicious bossa-house shuffler that showcases another wonderfully soulful, r&b style lead vocal from Shea Soul.