A very good album from someone I hadn’t heard of
before. It has a full, rich, panoramic sound that lets every voice in the group
be heard clearly. The inclusion of Krishna Kapoor, on some tracks, both adds a
new dimension and takes the group in a south Indian direction.
The opener, Crocodile and the Plover Bird starts with some solid, thunking acoustic bass before some lovely interplay between all the band. Lovely bluesy phrasing and a soaring sax solo by Molley is backed by dancing percussion and Tom Gibbs excelling with fluid runs on the piano. How this all fits with crocodiles and plover birds I’m not sure. (The plover is the avian toothpick that sorts out the debris that remains in the crocodile’s mouth after lunch.)
There is more certainty in the title of Lotus and Thistle, which reflects the origins
of the two main protagonists, namely Kishor and Molley, in that order. Molley’s
sax sounds like it was recorded in a cathedral, or an empty lighthouse (see
albums by Tommy Smith and Branford Marsalis for similar) there is that much
echo on it. Kishor adds the Eastern flavour with fluttering percussion. Ayemenem and Thursdays with GK both have Kishor and full band and they work
well together, Kishor’s percussion just adds that extra flavour, as suggested
above. Thursdays…provides a further
highlight in the lovely, dancing call and response duet between Gibbs and
Jarvie on piano and bass respectively. Vasudeva’s
Invitation opens with heavy, thunderous piano chording and Molley
contributes another lovely fluid solo. By this point I was really enjoying this
album.
Ae
Fond Kiss, a Scottish ‘Trad Arr’ classic is all rolling
wistful, melancholia and comfortably qualifies as a thing of beauty. By way of
enormous contrast, the closer Ramal Dabke
seizes us from lochside and hurtles us across continents to mix storming tenor
playing with Kishor’s Indian percussion, shown to very great effect on this
track where it’s part of the storm cooked up by the whole band. Even when the
band drops out so Kishor can solo the anticipation of a widescreen return of
the others keeps the excitement levels high. The abrupt ending should be
greeted with an exclamatory “Yess!”
Molley is definitely a name to watch out for. The brief tour in support of the album doesn’t bring him south of the border but we can always hope for a visit in the not too distant. Dave Sayer
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