2001 Ivory Coast - Fairmount Gas Recordings2002 5:30am - Fairmount Gas Recordings2002 Blane - Grasshopper Recordings2003 Loser Babe - Kassette RecordsSometimes a song has a life of its own. Ivory Coast, the first single by 53mph (moniker of British artist Philip Hunt), was a case in point. Released in September 2001 as the first record on the cult London label Fairmount Gas; no-one expected too much, least of all me. However, within 48 hours of the first promos going out to Radio stations John Kennedy of influential London station Xfm picked up on it and proceeded to make it the Xposure single of the week. From there on it was passed around the DJ’s at XFM like a virus until the station A-listed it. The song was even featured twice on Sky Sports and FGR were getting requests from France to America for promos for radio.“Sounding like the best Pavement song Pavement never recorded…†“It’s everything Blur tried and failed to achieve in their Pavement Phaseâ€, “unshakeable post-Brit pop harmonies†..are some of the things said about the single at the time.Quite an achievement for a band with no real members, no previous releases, no public profile and no record deal to its name. A group was hastily put together to promote the single and a selection of gigs followed including headline gigs at Water Rats, The Metro and The Borderline, plus support at the Borderline for The Miles Hunt Club. ‘5.30am’ was released the following year to favourable reviews and xfm support, even if it clocks in at a radio-unfriendly 7 minutes.‘…..the second single from 53mph is definitely a step forward……5.30am is a modern take on what Scott Walker strove for. Imagine if Lou Reed had been locked in the All Seeing I’s studio, and you’re halfway there.’ Record Collector ‘The Singles Bar’ – June 2002Hot on its heels was ‘Blane’ on Grasshopper records, distributed by Pinnacle. A pure rush of adrenaline rock/pop, with powerful hooks and leftfield story telling. This song was played extensively on London and Regional radio and ended the year on the HHV40 single charts at No.28; after being in the charts for 10 weeks and having peaked at number 3. An album was scheduled for release but after a year in production Grasshopper records decided to not release any more records and the project was shelved.Around this time I decided to move to Italy, the home country of my wife, and stopped releasing music. Instead, I concentrated on honing my sound into something more personal and up-date my sound away from late 90’s rock/pop. I started stripping it down to acoustic arrangements, organic sounds. This resulted in a video only instrumental release on www.video-c.co.uk as well as library music placements.Watch the 53mph - This Town video nowPhilip Hunt ceased making music under the title of 53mph as of 2007.Places you can buy my singles: http://www.justlikeheaven.it http://www.normanrecords.com http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_results.lasso?search_typ e=advanced&search_terms=53mph http://www.opalmusic.com/home.htm (search here under "53 MPH" with a space between numbers and letters ;))What the press said about Ivory Coast:John Kennedy’s single of the Week on Xfm’s X-posure and Xfm A-listed.‘FGR…adhering to one basic, yet sincere mission statement: "To put out good songs." It's working. 53MPH's unshakeable post-Brit pop harmonies on "Ivory Coast" have already been championed by XFM and applied to Sky Sports footie bulletins’ Dazed and Confused‘53mph delivers a particular brand of crisp, well-thought-out rock that draws equally on American and British influences…..the A-side sounds both like the Kinks and some sort of Pavement off shoot. Record Collector ‘The Singles Bar’ – September 2001‘You know when you hear something and it gets so stuck in your head it’s almost impossible not to hear it anymore? Well the a-side of this record is one of those songs. Sounding like the best Pavement song Pavement never recorded…’ Strange Fruit - www.strange-fruit.co.uk‘It’s everything Blur tried and failed to achieve in their Pavement Phase…Fairmount Gas say the label’s main aim is “to release stuff that’s good†?. If every FG 7†they release is as good as Ivory Coast, then they’re well on their way to achieving their goal.’ Josh Rinkoff – Rocksbackpages.com‘Extremely catchy single from London’s 53mph. Very Pavement mixing it up with Lou Reed.’ Rough TradeWhat the press said about 5:30am:Single of the Month ‘Cut from the same cloth as Saint Etienne or even one of those classic crooners who gets pulled from obscurity every now and then to guest on a dance track…..the second single from 53mph is definitely a step forward……5.30am is a modern take on what Scott Walker strove for. Imagine if Lou Reed had been locked in the All Seeing I’s studio, and you’re halfway there.’ Record Collector ‘The Singles Bar’ – June 2002’..a gem has been uncovered amongst the pedestrian efforts of 99% of MP3.com “contributorsâ€. 53mph offer cut up beats, scratched samples and lazy vocals of the highest order, mixed in-between cinematic John Barryisms………like the fresh faced, loveable lo-fi Beck of old - Mellow Gold style- Hunt’s vocals are all the better for rumbling along without a care for nonsense like direction or urgency.’ The Stereo Effect – www.thestereoeffect.com
