"we can raise the consciousness of the people of this planet so that each of us will be viewed as members of the same family, who are here to claim their birthright of unconditional love and oneness; if we don't do it, who will?"

Quite possibly the quintessential chill-out track of the early 90s, SisterLove's 'The Hypnotist' appeared on Jose Padilla's iconic 'Cafe Del Mar' compilation CD; FdM is more than a little bit pleased with itself to be able to reissue the recording on 7" vinyl.

"radiate...radiate...radiate"

SisterLove was Clif Brigden (Age Of Chance, World Of Twist) and Jeremy Leahy (The Gentle People); they came up with this blissed-out, downtempo, ambient groove, released on the ON label in 1992, sampling hypnotist Barrie Konicov in one of his many self-help hypnosis programs.

Clif shares some of the story of SisterLove…

SisterLove was born in an East London pub some time in the early nineties. Soon-to-be bandmates Jeremy Leahy and Clif Brigden were supping a pint or two with their then-fledgling, now iconic filmmaker mate Marc Munden. Jeremy had been at university with Marc, and Clif had scored all of his early films, and it was Marc who had the idea to put the two of them together. Jeremy had an insane record collection, mostly picked up in charity shops and leaning heavily into the kitsch end of the 1970s, from which he’d assembled some choice samples into a few rough tracks, The Hypnotist included. Clif had ended up as a producer through a convoluted path that included playing drums in working men’s clubs as a tween, selling his kit for an 808 and some Syndrums in 1979 and landing a gig, after two years at home smoking weed and working out how to jam with an 808, with electronic visionary Thomas Dolby.

Clif had a programming suite in a studio in Camden Town, and that’s where The Hypnotist started to take shape. To start, The Hypnotist was little more than some rough loops and a charity-shop relaxation cassette spun over the top; but once Clif got involved and his ADHD kicked in, the voice was chopped into dozens of clips so he could sit them just right in the groove.

The newly formed label On Records picked it up and with virtually zero budget, it was launched into the world. Somehow it ended up at Radio 1 and got serious play its first week from the Pet Shop Boys, who happened to be sitting in for a morning DJ; it faded quickly from the pop charts, only to rise again a couple of years later when it appeared on the very first Café del Mar compilation. Unknown to the band, it had meantime become a staple in the underground scene all over the world. The legendary DJ Mixmaster Morris included it in the tiny selection of vinyl he travelled with.

Jeremy has since passed on. Clif lived in California for thirty years before his house in Malibu burned to the ground, along with a few decades’ worth of iconic gear and all of his tapes except for the DATs of The Hypnotist, which were miraculously saved because a label in England, better known for putting out music entirely unrelated to SisterLove’s, found him on the interwebs and asked if they could re-release it. Thanks, Keith! We will be forever grateful.

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