Horace Andy - Midnight Scorchers (LP)

Horace Andy’s voice has always felt like a lighthouse in fog, soft yet impossible to miss. In 2022 he paired that glow with Adrian Sherwood’s dub laboratory for Midnight Scorchers, released on On-U Sound as the full-blooded companion to the earlier Midnight Rocker. Where Rocker prized space and soulful restraint, Scorchers turns the faders the other way. It is a tougher, more dancehall-leaning spin on the same material, built for late nights, sound system pressure, and the simple joy of hearing a great singer ride riddims that crackle with life.

Sherwood has spent decades shaping the grammar of modern dub, and you hear that history everywhere. Basslines roll like heavy weather. Snares snap, then vanish into a trail of tape echo. One moment Andy is close enough to touch, the next he’s drifting through a fog of spring reverb. The album doesn’t just remix songs from Midnight Rocker. It versions them in the classic Jamaican sense, teasing hooks and phrases, dropping instruments in and out, inviting the listener to hear what happens when a melody gets nudged into new shapes. The approach suits Andy. His delivery is so unhurried and sure that even when the beats get gnarlier, he never strains for effect. He sounds like he’s carving his initials in wet concrete.

There is history humming beneath these grooves. Andy came up through Studio One in the early 70s, cutting signature sides like Skylarking and You Are My Angel, and later reached a new generation through his work with Massive Attack. Midnight Rocker honored that sweep with new recordings and a brilliant cover choice that nodded to his Bristol friends. Midnight Scorchers flips the frame. You still get the melancholy beauty that Andy carries in his throat, yet the emphasis shifts to the engine room. Sherwood’s team keeps things tough but never cluttered. The low end feels clean and decisive. Percussion parts jab and chatter. Keyboards flicker like neon. Even small ear-candy moves, like a sudden burst of filter or a stray siren, land with intent.

If you’ve followed On-U Sound from the days of African Head Charge and Tackhead, this record hits a sweet spot. It has the label’s restless curiosity and studio craft, but it is also a singer’s album. Andy isn’t drowned by effects. He’s framed by them. When he sings about money’s lure or keeping faith in rough times, the mix nods along, opening up just enough for the lyric to sink in, then closing ranks for the next head-nod turn. It’s a satisfying conversation between singer and console, old-school in spirit and modern in its punch.

As a piece of wax, Midnight Scorchers is exactly the kind of thing you pull from the shelf when friends drop by and the night is getting good. The sub-bass sits right, the treble stays kind, and the dynamic swells breathe on a decent system. If you collect Horace Andy vinyl, this belongs next to your Studio One classics and the Massive Attack collabs. If you are new to him, it pairs perfectly with Midnight Rocker, like two sides of a coin. Search for Midnight Scorchers vinyl and you will find copies from On-U Sound’s current pressings that do the music justice. And if you prefer to buy Horace Andy records online, most reputable shops have kept this in stock because word of mouth has been strong. Even crate digging in a Melbourne record store or browsing vinyl records Australia wide, it’s become one of those sleeves you notice, take home, and then end up playing more than you planned. That is usually how great dub-adjacent records weave into your routine. They reward attention, but they also make a room feel better.

There is plenty of Horace Andy albums on vinyl worth exploring, but Midnight Scorchers has a special role. It proves that revisiting material is not a retreat. With a singer of Andy’s caliber and a producer as inventive as Sherwood, it can feel like the second conversation you wish you had the first time. Warmer, braver, a little more mischievous. It is a late-period gem from an artist who has already given us more than enough, and still finds new ways to move the floor and the heart in the same breath.