It's not often that you come across a would-be pop star who went all the way through med school before giving stardom a whirl. A pragmatic sort of gent, Submarine's founder and keyboardist Al Boyd at least made sure that he would have a rewarding career as a doctor in London to fall back on in case his musical aspirations failed to take the world by storm. Teamed with percussionist/lyricist Richard Jeffrey and Nigerian-bred singer Adaesi Ukairo, Submarine released their one and only record, the self-produced sampladelic gadget fest SkinDiving, in the fall of 2000.Despite the Boyd's thickly layered production, a melodic and accessible batch of songs, and a range of samples giving inspirational props to everyone from Chet Baker and Billie Holiday to Perry Como, the arrival of Submarine on U.S. shores couldn't have come at a worse time. Attempting to play catch-up with far too many similarly-styled trip-hop duos and trios that had arisen and disappeared in recent years (such as Mono, Baxter, Olive, Morcheeba, and Lamb) put the trio at an immediate disadvantage from which they were never able to recover. Thus, the only sizable splash Submarine were able to make was on the Billboard Dance Music charts, where their uptempo single "Sunbeam" managed to scrape the Top 15.
There was another song on the SkinDiving, however, that I feel deserves special mention on its own, and that is the yearning, loping reverie "Evergreen." Thick with the kind of squelching, slightly off-kilter synth tones that bring to mind the antics of cartoony fellow countrymen Moloko, "Evergreen" is a perfect blend of Ukairo's aching, emotive vocals and Boyd's detailed electronics. With a bit of tweaking for length and perhaps some additional sugar coating via. remix, "Evergreen" just might have given Submarine the hit they needed to stay afloat (sorry) for at least one more album.
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