Stripped Back

Following up on her critically acclaimed third studio album More Sinner Than Saint, the Black Country's Rebecca Downes announces the release of her fourth studio album, Stripped Back, on her own label, Mad Hat Records. Without the prospect of a tour to promote it, a full new studio album had to be put on hold, but Rebecca and co-writer Steve saw an opportunity to use the time to revisit and reimagine some of their most popular tracks. The result is Stripped Back, a new studio album that includes a fascinating re-working of tracks from More Sinner Than Saint and Believe. Steve and Rebecca are prolific songwriters and in the aftermath of More Sinner Than Saint they had over 20 songs that had not made the cut for that album, most because they simply did not 'fit'. The feel and mood of Stripped Back created the scope to include two of these previously unreleased tracks, which make their deserved debuts here. The end product is a laid-back, yet vibrant album that shows a range and depth to Rebecca's voice that will be a surprise to those not familiar with all her work whilst at the same time showing off the full scope of Steve's instrumental and vocal skills. All-in-all it shows that the COVID ockdown did not mean 'freeze frame' to this talented duo.