Twice As Nice

The Artist

High Fade are a Scottish funk and soul outfit out of Edinburgh, built around tight horn-driven grooves, punchy rhythm section work, and a stage presence honed on the UK festival and club circuit. The band came up gigging relentlessly, building a reputation as a live act first and a studio act second, with a sound that pulls from classic funk, contemporary neo-soul, and a strain of British indie-pop cheek. Their identity sits somewhere between throwback revivalism and a modern, slightly irreverent sensibility, equally at home with a slick horn arrangement and a knowing lyrical wink. Twice As Nice arrives as a statement release for a band trying to translate that live energy into a coherent record.

The Album

Twice As Nice captures High Fade in a mode that leans into the sweaty, horn-forward grooves they're known for on stage, while stretching into moodier and more introspective territory across its ten tracks. The production keeps the band sounding like a band, with drums, bass, keys, and horns locked in a room together rather than buried under studio polish. There's a looseness to the arrangements that suggests takes were kept for feel rather than perfection, and the sequencing moves between party-ready cuts and slower burners with confidence. Thematically, the record digs into self-doubt, bad habits, late nights, and the small indignities of trying to keep it together, dressed up in grooves that make the medicine go down easy.

Listen For

The horn section as a lead voice. Across the record the horns function less as garnish and more as a co-lead instrument, trading lines with the vocals and often carrying the hook themselves. Pay attention to how "Swamp" sets that template right out of the gate.

Rhythm section pocket. Listen to how the drums and bass sit on "The Fly" and "Retro Inferno"; the groove has that unhurried, slightly-behind-the-beat feel that separates a funk band that gets it from one that doesn't.

Dynamics across the sequence. The record moves from strut to slow-burn and back, with "War" and "Sick Of Myself" pulling the temperature down before "Room 634" and "Black & Blue" reset the mood. Notice how the pacing keeps the album from settling into one gear.

Vocal delivery. The lead vocal shifts between swaggering front-man mode and something more vulnerable, especially on "The Jokes On You," where the phrasing does a lot of the emotional lifting.

Lyrical self-deprecation. There's a running thread of self-directed humour and honesty, from the title-referencing "Time For A Cig (Twice As Nice)" to the small-hours resignation of "Dollar For The Bus" closing things out.