Funke and The Two Tone Baby - Reacclimate (2023)

Funke and the Two Tone Baby has existed on the periphery of the grassroots circuit for over a decade and covered on Louder Than War on a couple of occasions previously. These varied between the songs of everyone from B52’s to Led Zep and Depeche Mode to The Fratellis, which should give you a feel for the variety of styles on Reacclimate achieved through his relationship with dance producer DJ Binge.

Funke And The Two Tone Baby is the moniker of Kent-based Dan Turnbull. The one-man mechanical alt-blues band has always been a hard worker, playing gigs at opposite ends of the country on consecutive days building a loyal following. In 2022 his set at Beautiful Days Festival attracted the largest-ever opening crowd in the event’s history and his appearance at Glastonbury this year was his 1000th show to date, something that was picked up by Channel 4 News. He was also one of the Guardians’ picks of the day.

Reacclimate is an album of growth and reinvention which documents the artist readjusting to a new life following a traumatic few years that saw the loss of his partner to cancer after a very sudden diagnosis. Dan explains, “Considering the turmoil I (and all of us) have gone through these last few years, I was determined not to make a depressing album. Of course, these subjects are heavily touched upon, but I’ve attempted to pull the lightness from even the darkest of times. This is an album of positivity and the unwavering belief that life, society and grief will inevitably improve even if the odds seem against you.”

The record offers a steely determination to come back into the world fighting, via blues, funk, big-beat and heartbreaking love songs. His sharp, poetic, touching and socially conscious lyrics are just as evident as on previous releases, pulsating from start to finish and finding light in the darkest corners.”

There is so much variety on the record, from the opening visceral call to arms of the opening I’ve Slept Enough to the heartfelt Ani’s Song via the biting guitar stabs of Shake It Up. “It seems impossible for anyone to pin me down, but I love it. I’ve somehow stumbled into a place where I’m making music on a machine that only I can control, in a way that no one can seem to describe. But people are going nuts for it live, and this record shows fully what I can achieve.”

The aforementioned Shake It Up was first, verging on punk hammering home the opinion that a fake smile, money and power can never stop you being humbled by humiliation. Can’t Stop The Music was next, described as “A buzzy summertime sing-a-long that fuses lolloping blues rhythms with an infectious poppy chorus hook.” The track also features the ‘the finest guerilla group vocalists, The Funkettes’ for an uplifting call-and-response which emphasises the cloud-busting character of unbridled and wholehearted positivity that ultimately defines the track. I’ve not seen Funke live but I can imagine this will be a highlight of the show.

Oh Great Mother was next. Not a typical single weighing in at 5 minutes plus. It’s long, airy and meandering. He says, “The track started out as a late-night argument about how fast the moon was travelling through the sky. I counteracted the argument by writing this song about it. In hindsight, it seems pretty petty, but it’s been a surreal adventure to take this little throwaway argument and actually prove it right/wrong years later.”

Most recently, the One in a Million was dropped to herald the album’s imminent arrival. Chic-esque funk guitars metamorphose into glitchy, stuttering electronic melodies. Funke’s first futuristic foray into “making dance music with dance processes”. It’s something he’s proud of, “I’ve always tried to bridge a gap between dance and acoustic music. You won’t find a dude with an acoustic guitar playing pumping house tunes. It’s my USP. it throws people off guard and you can see the cogs turning in the audience’s eyes.”

Whilst these have been the ‘singles’, the album is consistent throughout and is a bit of a grower. You’d think that the variety of styles would clash but they actually hang well together, for example, Ani’s Song and folky Something Everyday lead into the squelching electronica of Take Take Take and head out into the initially more familiar This Is How They Operate before this too turns into a one-man rave Reacclimate closes with acoustic blues of Pufferfish Blues finishing the album on a high.

It’s a solid record which bears the scars of recent years however shows a great resilience in the artist. “I’ve never felt more excited about or felt more creative with my music, my career and this journey. I’ve stepped up every possible element and I think sonically this album is head and shoulders above anything I’ve done before. It shows five years of development and pure joy for the art of what I do.”