After an 18-month hiatus, Count Counsellor is back. Last month the Londoner dropped jubilatory smash ‘Friends’, and having racked up over 10,000 streams since he has just released the spacey follow-up, ‘Open Eyes’. It’s relatively hard to pinpoint Count Counsellor’s style, which relaxes elements of funk, dance and jazz into a blissed-out haze. Having grown up on artists like Paul Simon, Sade, Fela Kuti and Burial, as well as sneaking into his brother’s DJ sets, Counsell says: “…listening to those artists have hugely influenced how I play and write, whether it is clear in the music or not.” To celebrate the release of & The Friday Friends EP, which is due out via Aesop / Quality Time, Count Counsellor will play a one-off show at London’s Camden Assembly on 5th September. -HM