Faye MacCalman (tenor sax, clarinet, synth, vocals); John Pope (bass guitar, fx, vocals); Christian Alderson (drums, percussion).
A genre busting album with various twists and turns flowing richly throughout. Folk, indie, electronic and free jazz all surface not just on individual tracks but within pieces too. For example, the longest piece on the album Gold starts with an electronic intro the clarinet then takes over with an eastern style theme all the while there is a terrific bass groove driving proceedings. I even detected a hint of prog rock within the piece.
There are three tracks (Waiting, Wake Up and Burn On) featuring MacCalman on vocals providing further depth and variety. MacCalman is responsible for penning all the vocals and the music apart from 3 tracks (Wine Dark Sea, Undercurrent, Silhouette) jointly written with the other band members.
My favourite parts of the album are when it kicks off towards the end of a track and the wild exuberance and free spirit of the band shines through. Chemical is old style Archipelago energetic, rocking, foot tapping stuff. In contrast, the delightful Wine Dark Sea is a charming melodious and mellow ballad. The percussive chimes evoke the ebb and flow of the gentle waves.
Undercurrent is a straight up electronic groove and the last 2 tracks - the ecclesiastical sounding Silhouette and the vocal Burn On - have a dark and spooky feel.
So all in all a fascinating and varied production keeping this listener intrigued and entertained during its entire playback. Steve H
Bandcamp. Available June 25 on New Jazz and Improvised Music label.
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