SoulCircuit Gets Vocalist Maverick Sabre and a Video Full of New Orleans Heat

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SoulCircuit Gets Vocalist Maverick Sabre and a Video Full of New Orleans Heat

"Allegiance to the tribe is stronger than any gang affiliation."

If you've heard Gorgon City, you're familiar with vocalist Maverick Sabre's yearning tenor. His is the voice that both opens and closes the duo's 2014 album, on tracks "Coming Home" and "Hard On Me." Now, a new London-based house duo, SoulCircuit (Dan Timcke and Tom Moore) has recruited Sabre for their new single, "Rolling With Me (I Got Love)." The group tapped director Dan Henshaw (known for work with The 2 Bears and Tinchy Stryder) to helm the video. Henshaw says that the tune reminded him of what he had seen on a trip to New Orleans.

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"Its mishmash of music, sin and spirituality make it unlike anywhere else in the US," Henshaw says of the Big Easy. "On a previous visit I'd seen these African American guys parading around the 'hood in elaborate, home made American Indian suits with psychedelic-colored feathers, holding guns and shouting war cries. It was wild and intimidating but totally fascinating. Since then I knew I wanted to shoot a film about them."

Far from what we would consider cultural appropriation today, the tradition of African Americans wearing Native American garb dates back to the pre-Civil War era when black slaves would sometimes take refuge in Indian communities by donning the masks or garb of that particular tribe. In the late 1800s, black Americans and Native Americans continued the practice of "masking," as a display of solidarity with each other in the face of oppression.

In the early moments of the video, we hear the voice of a man named Walter who Henshaw says is a member of what is known as a Mardi Gras Indian Tribe; his is called the Creole Wild West tribe. "His past is quite a dark one," Henshaw says about Walter. "He's an ex-addict who ran with gangsters and has spent time incarcerated. It was the influence of the Creole Wild West tribe that helped him turn his life around and give him a purpose beyond hustling. Now he and his son take such pride in designing and making their Indian suits, and representing their tribe. The allegiance to the tribe and the respect for its history is stronger than any gang affiliation."

SoulCircuit, was first introduced to the world earlier this year with smooth vocal house cut "The Good Light." With Sabre on board, "Rolling With Me (I Got Love)" doesn't stray far from the deep-ish house vibes laced with a distinctive topline motif SoulCircuit is clearly staking a claim to. On its own, the tune is a outright jam that lends itself to hugging your friends on the dancefloor or high-fiving them in the car on the way to a night out. Now SoulCircuit has a standout short film that turns their new single into a soundtrack for solidarity.

SoulCircuit on Facebook // SoundCloud
Maverick Sabre on Twitter // YouTube