Magic Number

Magic Number is Ross Hillard, who hails from the English city of Leicester. He took a demo of his song ?That Day' to Mantis Recordings back in 2001. It was a fabulously soulful, Latin flavoured song, with a wonderful vocal performance from local session singer Rachel Foster and Rhodes piano by non other than Raymond Angry from The Blackbyrds. Mantis main man Martin ?Atjazz' Iveson was suitably impressed, and helped Ross to produce the track.

Which was released later that year, receiving high praise from many well respected DJ's and producers, including the likes of Larry Heard, Laurent Garnier and Ben Watt. The music press also added their own encouraging reactions.

The vocal heart of the Magic Number project is Edinburgh born soul singer Jane Hamilton. She makes the first of five appearances on the album with the song ?Waiting (For You)'. A downtempo number with an elasticated bass sound, it's soul music of the highest order. ?Sorry', also has a stunning performance from Jane. The soaring strings heighten the energy of the compelling lyrics and lively drums. The song may be familiar to some, as it was previously released as a single on Mantis. This led to Jane and Ross working with further Sonar Kollektiv artists. Slope's ?Find our Love' and Deyampert's ?It's You', both have Jane's wonderful voice.