• Track Listing

'The defamation of strickland banks' from Plan B is the sound of motown, stax and obscure northern soul, filtered through the grit of contemporary east London. It is smokey robinson miraculously fused with eminem. It's an urban fairytale, the story of a man who finds success hard to handle and then hits rock bottom. A sweet soul morsel with a razor-sharp edge. Plan B's second single 'she said' currently b list on the UK's radio 1 & radio 2 playlist. 'the defamation of strickland banks' are songs that tell the story of strickland banks, a sharp-suited British soul singer who finds fame with bitter-sweet love songs like 'love goes down' and 'writing's on the wall' but loses everything when he ends up in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It's as if marvin gaye went from his early motown love songs to 'what's goin' on' in just one album, then had it all remixed by London grime artists. Produced by paul epworth, the studio genius behind recent hits by florence & the machine, the big pink and friendly fires, Plan B's latest is a ferocious collision of retro soul, funk, rock and rap that sounds smokey robinson fronting rage against the machine.