Benin City is the project of three experienced ravers and continuing club-goers - vocalists Joshua Idehen and Shanaz Dorsett plus multi-instrumentalist Tom Leaper - who are standing up for the depleting night culture in London and across the UK. Following the nostalgic ‘Take Me There’, ‘All Smoke, No Fire’ looks at the present state of a once living, breathing club circuit with a real sadness. As Dorsett’s conveys in conversation, “I’m in a mid-’20s, I always thought the clubs, the old clubs, closing down was a thing that happened to people in their ‘30s and ‘40s, but I see the list of the clubs, those were the clubs that I would go into,” she continues, “it feels very, very, very, very strange that the same kids won’t have that now.” The climbing tempo is paired with poet Idehen’s fired-up spoken word as he paints images of gentrification and the watering down of a club’s essence. A ferocious “you’ve got to go” expands the song into a luxurious arrangement of a simple, looping melody, intermittent trap and metallic spring bass. This somewhat minimalist layout allows for the collected voices of poets, musicians and journalists to cut through to the listener revealing the best of a culture that deserves saving. ‘All Smoke, No Fire’ along with ‘Take Me There’ will feature in Benin City’s sophomore album, Last Night, due to appear in full on April 6th 2018 via Moshi Moshi Records. - HT