Lee “Scratch” Perry recorded his vocal for “Angels” at Black Ark Studio in Switzerland over a decade before the song reached its final form, laying it over a rough beat with the words: “When I recorded the vocals, I only listened to the heartbeat.” Born Rainford Hugh Perry in Jamaica, Perry spent the 1960s and 70s building the foundations of dub from his Black Ark Studio in Kingston, producing Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin and the Congos before relocating first to London and then to Switzerland.
Steve Marshall, the English producer who returned to the unfinished rhythm years later, added new drums, electric guitar, piano and synth, steering the track toward Lovers Rock. Geo Baddoo, the Somerset-raised, London-based soul and R&B artist, joined the project after that, writing a gentle, contemplative lyric that pushed “Angels” further into Lovers Rock territory. Baddoo built her opening lines around a refrain Perry had left in the vocal, drawn from Psalm 87:7: “singers and players of the instruments.” Dennis Bovell, the Barbados-born producer credited with shaping UK Lovers Rock in the 1970s, handled the single’s dub mix.
“Angels” leads Scratch Is Alive, due on State of Emergency on 13 November and timed to mark what would have been Perry’s 90th birthday in 2026. It’s the fifth album Perry and Marshall have made together, following the Grammy-nominated The End Of An American Dream and Revelation, and it gathers unreleased vocal and dub recordings made in Switzerland and London.
Stream “Angels” HERE