Benediction — Hot Natured

“Benediction” is the song that took Hot Natured beyond the DJ booth. Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’s group released it on their own Hot Creations label in October 2012, with Ali Love singing. Within weeks it was on the UK Singles Chart.

The band behind the label

Hot Natured started as a project of Jamie Jones and Lee Foss, who also co-founded Hot Creations. The line-up grew to four with the singer Ali Love and Luca C (Luca Cazal), both from Infinity Ink. Before “Benediction” came “H.E.A.D.S” (2008), “Equilibrium” (2010), “Nino Brown” and “Forward Motion” (2011, also with Ali Love). As remixers they also reworked Waifs & Strays’ “Body Shivers” (2011) and Phoenix’s “Entertainment” (2013).

The 12-inch

Hot Creations issued “Benediction” as catalogue number HOTC025: the vocal mix and the instrumental on the A-side, a dub and an MK remix of “Forward Motion” on the B-side. Reviewing it for Resident Advisor, Andrew Ryce heard “classic drum sounds, misty Italo synths and triumphant chords”, and singled out Ali Love’s smooth vocal. The dub, he noted, is the more climactic version for keeping a set going.

Into the charts

“Benediction” entered the UK Singles Chart on 10 November 2012 and peaked at No. 40, with three weeks in the top 100. It did better on the specialist charts: No. 8 on the UK Dance Singles Chart, where it stayed eight weeks, and No. 2 on the UK Independent Singles Chart.

The album and the reissue

The track reappeared as the fifth of 15 songs on Hot Natured’s only album, Different Sides of the Sun, released by Warner Music and Hot Creations on 30 August 2013. Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Luca C, Mark Ralph and Marc Kinchen produced it, with guests including Róisín Murphy, The Egyptian Lover and Anabel Englund. The album reached No. 44 in the UK and No. 5 on the UK Dance Albums chart. Its other singles included “Reverse Skydiving” with Anabel Englund, a UK No. 56, and “Isis (Magic Carpet Ride)” with The Egyptian Lover.

In 2014 “Benediction” was reissued as an official single, with a radio edit on FFRR in August. Hot Natured played Coachella in April 2015; the group has been on hiatus since 2015.

In the mix today

“Benediction” is a song that works in a club: a steady groove, Italo-flavoured synths, a vocal that lifts a room without stopping it. For more tech house from the same years, keep digging with Claude VonStroke.