Sounds write:Fingersnap (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Sounds write:Fingersnap

8:53am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Music By Anthony Loman

Craving a sublime musical experience? Well look no further than Fingersnap, a newly formed duo that comprises of singing sensation David McAlmont and multi-talented musician Guy Davies.

David McAlmont is hopefully a name that is familiar to you since he is undoubtedly one of the finest singers this country has ever produced. McAlmont is probably best known for his partnership with ex Suede guitarist Bernard Butler that yielded top forty singles, including the classic 'Yes', and two excellent albums in 1995 and 2005. He has also collaborated with the likes of composers Michael Nyman and David Arnold, Courtney Pine, Craig Armstrong and Paul Weller to name just a few.

Guy Davies was born in Liverpool and began playing piano at the tender age of five, following his Dad, a talented pianist and singer with Liverpool swing bands in the early 60's and his grandmother who was a piano teacher. By age eighteen, Guy was playing and recording with many Liverpool bands and his CV boasts the diverse array of artists he has subsequently worked with including Jon Bon Jovi, Shakespears Sister, Robert Palmer, Carlene Anderson, Jimmy Barnes, Pete Wylie and Suggs(ex Madness frontman). Guy, having long been a huge fan of David's, first met the singer in 1997 when they were introduced by producer Steve Leroni. The two struck up an immediate friendship that quickly developed into a blossoming working relationship through live and studio work together, most notably their collaboration on two of David's albums, 'A Little Communication'(1998) and 'Set One: You Go To My Head'(2005).

In 2005, Guy felt a life change was needed and turned his back on music performance for a number of years, choosing instead to pursue a career in the media industry which honed his business skills that are now proving most useful in the new Fingersnap project. It was though always his intention to return to playing and producing and in 2009 Davies and McAlmont reconnected.

"We did a gig together at the end of 2009 whilst I was still working(in media)", says Davies, "We did about six songs and it was like 'this is really good'. It was just piano and vocals and it was quite soulful. I think that was the start of what we're now doing. I went away and then David called me and said 'Do you want to come and do something together?'"

The pair's musical reconnection led to Davies going out 'on the road' last year as musical director on McAlmont's headlining tour with the shows receiving huge critical acclaim and wowing all audiences that saw them. Some of the shows were full band performances whilst others were just David and Guy as a duo and those concerts with just the two of them were to prove the catalyst for the formation of their new Fingersnap partnership.

Explaining how Fingersnap evolved McAlmont says, "We spent a lot of weeks in Ireland in the first half of last year writing new songs and developing the duo shows. We really enjoying playing those dates, just the two of us. We felt they rivalled the band show and in many ways were better, being much more intimate and so powerful that we decided to give it(the partnership) more room to breathe."

McAlmont went on to say that, "the formation of Fingersnap was driven by the material we were writing together. I really wanted to make a departure from everything that had gone before and didn't want to call it 'McAlmont &........', that had happened enough. As the material got written, it just didn't sound like McAlmont material to me anyway and I thought it would be unfair on Guy to go with the 'McAlmont &........' route so we decided on the name Fingersnap.

And why the name Fingersnap? "It's something I do a lot of, I'm always snapping my fingers", says McAlmont adding that, "We'd actually been thinking about quite a few names and we were about to put them down on paper for consideration when Guy said 'Fingersnap is a good name'. So we checked on the internet to see if it(the name) had already been taken and thankfully it hadn't been."

There's a real magic chemistry between the duo that is immediately apparent to anyone who sees one of their shows or has heard their debut 'Smokehouse' EP of four stunning new songs( a full album is to follow soon). "Guy and I are very together in our outlook", McAlmont confirms, "I think we are interested in supporting each other in a way that the other people I have collaborated with haven't been. I would say Guy has always had a very strong instinct for me musically and I have always worked really comfortably with him so it is an ideal partnership."

McAlmont was born to perform on a stage and that is where he readily admits to being most at home. "For many years I've seen the studio as a means to an end but the stage has always been where I am most at ease", says the singer but adding that, " Although I do like being in the studio with Guy as we are on the same wavelength. A lot of the studio experiences I've had in the past have felt bit alien but that definitely isn't the case with Guy."

The McAlmont voice is a real thing of wonder and true beauty for he is a vocalist who can seemingly land on any note with ease and with the same pinpoint accuracy of a laser guided missile. Yet it is fair to say that this supreme and truly gifted artist has never quite enjoyed the level of mass public acclaim that his unique talents most certainly warrant and for reasons that are almost impossible to fathom. Ignoring talent like his should really be a criminal offence but McAlmont himself remains pretty philosophical about this situation.

Commenting on this anomaly McAlmont says, "People are constantly telling me I should be more successful and be a huge, international star and my response to that is that if I should be then I would be but the fact is I'm not. I occupy my space quite well and it doesn't overly bother me. But I don't think that(the success/acclaim) is all that there is to what I'm doing. The fact of the matter is that I get up on stage and open my mouth and people like Guy, Michael Nyman, Bernard Butler, Courtney Pine, David Arnold etc. want to work with me and people in the audience weep. Not everyone can have that effect and I haven't really got anything to complain about."

Don't pass up the opportunity to witness David McAlmont & Guy Davies together on stage in their new Fingersnap guise as they are on tour throughout February and are playing in Manchester at Band On The Wall on 2nd February and in Hebden Bridge at the Trades Club on 4th February.