Chungking, the pop connoisseur’s favourite, the record collector’s hidden gem, return with their third album Defender on June 1st. The latest – and self-produced album – from the Brighton based trio captures their slick and sultry grooves, coupled with serious musicianship and above all, the voice and multi-layered harmonies of Jessie Banks. Smooth as silk and tough as steel, its Jessie’s vocal that has come to define Chungking’s signature sound. Chungking’s debut We Travel Fast – on Tim ‘Love’ Lee’s label for party people Tummy Touch – set a career agenda with beautifully crafted, consistent and timeless songs that won the band plaudits across the board. Since it’s release the trio have worked with pop overlord Richard X and WARP records’ techno-soulman Jamie Lidell, while Jessie – by special request – has provided vocals both live and recorded for Royksopp and Air. They were among the very first to be remixed by the mighty Hot Chip. Classic, deep-rooted songwriting, Defender places them somewhere in a miraculous zone between Kate Bush, The Bee Gees and the ‘Drive’ soundtrack – it’s an album that could only have been made by people utterly in love with pop music. Sapphire, the first release from Defender, was “written for a best friend who I travelled the world with, then lost” says Ben. “It took a year to finish and by the end it was a little bit about my girl too. It’s all about loving someone but knowing that ultimately you never really know them…” Jessie, Sean Hennessy and Ben Townsend have woven a melancholic sweetness through ‘Sapphire’ resulting in a track that moves with the softness of a lullaby and the hazy weight of a broken heart at sunrise. Lead track Beautiful World, recorded like much of the album in an isolated house in Porthia, Cornwall, is, says Jessie “a song that expresses how I feel about the friends I’ve lost along the way to drugs. The beautiful young people who just got swept far too far. Some of those friends have returned. Some haven’t.” Album highlight Stand by Me was the last song to be written – and is sung, says Jessie, “from the perspective of a Joan Of Arc figure. I wanted to write something strong and direct. Verses of orchestral ‘80’s stabs and sweeping melodies lead to a middle eight that nods to Wally Badarou.” With Defender, Chungking continue their legacy; able to take in everything from The Carpenters to Vashti Bunyan, psychedelic soul to Italo- disco and still, and after seven years away, managing to sound completely and unmistakably Chungking to the core.