A MUSICIAN from Maldon has released a debut album as part of an electronic duo.

Brook have released their album Built You For Thought under Very Records.

The album combines the captivating vocals of midlands-based Beth Brooks with a delicate, sensitive electronic palette from Maldon man Howard Rider.

The record company is owned by synth-pop legend Vince Clarke who was part of Erasure and wrote songs for Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and the Assembly.

Howard grew up in Tenterfield Road, Maldon and moved away two and a half years ago.

Despite this, he still has fond memories of growing up in the town.

Mr Rider said: “I remember the good old days when the now Sunny Sailor was The Welcome Sailor or ‘The Welcome’.

“In the 90s, it was the place to be.”

Built You For Thought is the product of two years of work.

The tracks began with Beth recording alone with an acoustic guitar before Howard began wrapping her vocals in layers of intricate synths and textures to create ten tracks.

Mr Rider added: “While we were making the record, someone said to me that we should keep it simple.

“If this had been a solo project I’d have probably made this all sound a lot crazier, but gradually I began to realize he was correct.

“What we needed was a lot of space for Beth to be the central focus of these songs.”

The ten highly personal songs on the album are delivered with an arresting power and a towering emotional resonance.

A spokesman said: “Beth, a seasoned soul and blues vocalist from the UK’s Midlands possesses a technique unlike any other, capable of switching from quiet introspection to blistering urgency, sometimes within the same song.

“It’s an effect that can lead the listener to mistakenly think they are hearing a choir of many voices instead of just one.

“The temptation would be for Howard’s music to follow Beth’s lead.

“After encouraging his brother to sell his Renault 5 to buy a drum machine when he was 15, Howard was weaned on a diet of dance music.

“Having previously released upbeat electronic music loaded with melodies, it would have been all too easy for Howard to put Beth’s vocal in a loud, similarly-intense setting.

“Instead, the music here is a conscious exercise in self-restraint: reflective passages and quietly turbulent, stirring juxtapositions, occasionally coalescing into sequences and arrangements laden with tension and robust rhythms, or nodding to the eclecticism of modern classical composition.”

For details, visit veryrecords.com.