"Yeah, that's got eveything in it" (Gilles Peterson, NME)
"Rough beats... lush production... coolly soulful vocals" (Mixmag Update)
"Who needs Prozac with tunes like this around ?" (Muzik)

These were some of the superlatives which greeted Phosphorus, a Rome-based band which consisted of three English expats and one Italian, who all met & lived in Rome, where they recorded this album.

Phosphorus by Phosphorus

Emma Stow (vocals) : the wandering, blonde singer from Sussex went to Rome to study Italian and theatre, fell in love with the Eternal City and never looked back. She says: “25 years old, 5 foot 7, shoe size 39, Sagittarius, likes to eat, likes to travel, likes heat, hates telephones. Is excited by a lot of different kinds of music from folk to jungle. Is fairly concerned about the end of the world, believes in God and hopes to go to heaven if she can just learn to control her temper. Is an optimist and naive and believes that change is possible. Believes in taking destiny in your own hands. Would like to see the Himalayas, the Amazon, the desert and go to Laos before she dies. Would like to die happy.”

Debbie Harris (vocals) : she left her Jamaican parents in London’s East Side and moved to Rome ‘cos she wanted somewhere warm to live, learn a language and eat pasta. Says she: “I was born under the sign of Aquarius. I’m influenced by a lot of different artists and different types of music, particulary old school soul and rare grooves (believe it or not, I love Barbra Streisand...). I have always enjoyed music and art in general; though I never thought I would end up in a recording studio. Even when close friends hinted at me to take up singing seriously, it wasn't until I moved to Rome a few years ago that I've considered the idea. There I met Keir, Marco and Emma, and we formed Phosphorus”.

Marco Scocchera (programming/instruments) : he’s always lived in Rome... his mum comes from a famous Austrian yodelling family, and Marco used to be one of Italy’s top DJs. He says: “I’m not a real musician but I studied some keyboards and musical theory for a while. I started out playing keyboards and guitar for local rock, ragga & ska bands and became a radio & disco DJ during early house/rave days. I then dived ‘body&soul’ into various Rome recording and mixing studios, and worked on projects for labels such as Flying, Vibraphone, UMM. With my mate Keir Fraser we’ve started our own studio (Studio 9) a couple of years ago, and have been producing various dance/rap/dub/funk records for Roman acts, doing work for soundtracks, radio jingles, and audio research (sound shaping, optimised speaker recordings for interactive phone systems, advanced de-noising, etc.) and of course working together on the Phosphorus project.”

Keir Fraser (programming/instruments) : “A 30-something musical refugee, exiled to Italy after years of avantgarde obscurity with infamous Industrial performance group Last Few Days (collaborators with Laibach, 23 Skidoo, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire), he found new mates and means leading to two albums for Ninja Tune as 9Lazy9 (with his friend James aka Funki Porcini), and finally Phosphorus, after meeting Language impresario Tony Thorpe on the steps of the Colosseum... Keir's a Taurus (like Hitler!) but luckily some aspects from spaced-out Neptune have mellowed his needs for world domination...”