Released 1995/1997 | Recorded 1994 | |
Genre trip hop
Acid jazz
bossa nova Label Ritas Records, Jive Records Writer(s) Nina Miranda, Marc Brown Producer(s) Marc Brown, Nina Miranda, Mike Peden, Chris Franck | ||
"Underwater Love" is a 1997 song by the English band, Smoke City. First released in 1994, the song did not receive recognition until its appearance in a Levi's commercial, upon which it was positively received critically and charted in ten countries.
Contents
Background
The Brazilian inspired track was written by two of the band members who were admirers of 1970s funk, Santana and Gilberto Gil. The song is built upon a gentle, constant guitar strum, drums and samples, some of which are rainforest noises, others are from "Bahia Soul" by Luiz Bonfá and "Mother Popcorn" by James Brown. The song's writers were credited as former school friends Miranda and programmer Marc Brown. Miranda and Brown were again credited as producers together with Mike Peden and band member Chris Franck. It was first recorded in 1994, and released in 1995 via Ritas Records, the song became a hit after being used in a commercial for Levi's jeans. Prior to this, it had been featured on the Fourth & Broadway/Island compilation "The Rebirth Of Cool Six". Lead singer Nina Miranda, who was living in Brazil at the time, was asked to return to London to discuss signing the project. Miranda and Smoke City were later based in London, but their interests were in Brazil. Miranda was proud that they had success in Portugal as that country was "in the middle of what we're about". Upon release, in 1997, the song made the charts in ten countries. Underwater Love was included on the band's debut album which was titled "Flying Away".
Music video
A music video for the song was produced. It includes all three members of the band, and was directed by Tim Macmillan and John Lynch, with final production by Red Post in London.
Critical reception
New Musical Express commended its mixture of "dub and Brazilian touches and healthy helpings of sleaze", whilst The Pitch Online called the song "a perfect reprieve from the steel bars of winter into a humid rainforest of resonating vocals and music" and praised the vocals of Nina Miranda, noting that "even better than her exotic purring of the English hook would be when she transitions to a string of spoken Portuguese without using her full singing voice". In addition, Tom Bromley, author of We Could Have Been the Wombles, described the song as having "a fantastic feel: the hypnotically plucked guitar, the funky drum loop, a judicious mix of Brazilian beats and sonar bleeps, wafts of organ and hints of Herbie Hancock [are] all topped off by Nina's mesmeric vocals".
Chart performance
The song charted internationally, with its highest peak being in the UK at number 4 – becoming the 14th song to enter the UK Singles Chart on the back of being featured in a Levi's advertisement and the third debut act to chart this way – followed by number 18 in Norway. Further top forty placements came in Austria, with number 23, Switzerland and #33 in the Wallonia region of Belgium. Other placings came in Australia, at number 41, the Flanders region of Belgium at number 42, number 55 in Germany, number 58 in Sweden and number 97 in the Netherlands.