User Profile

One of the most anticipated Jazz projects from the newer generation in the British scene is out, and it's all it promised to be. Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes joined minds and talent to create a project that really stands out from the rest of the pack, which they've shown capable to do with the singles that they had released in the upcoming weeks leading to launch day (24th of April), with some collaborations in between, like the third tune on this LP, which has the vocals of Fredie Gibbs, in a smooth groovy jazz tune. The two interlude tracks do a good job off preparing us for one of the most amazing instrumental songs made in recent times, and after hearing it time and time again, is no surprise to see that it had the collaboration of another musician that is concerned as one of the most brilliant minds of today Jazz scene as well, the son of the legendary Pino Palladino, Rocco, which collaboration after collaboration with many other artists that are making their way to the top, like Alfa Mist, shows that the genius (and the groove) runs deeply in the blood, with an absolutely amazing performance on this one. To summarize, the first half of this LP is pure gold. After "Lift Off", the album slowly runs off meaningful content, which isn't bad per se, but compared with all the 7 first tunes, is notch down in terms of overall sonority and creative structure ("Kyiv" is the exception, product of a jamming collaboration between Tom, Yussef and Rocco)."I did it for you" is the one that comes next, as so much the of that "summery" groove and classic guitar from Geography, but with the vocal decay that is so much present on this record when Tom is singing, which could be a turn off for some folks, but it melts itself so well with the all vibe of this experimental jazz fusion. It's great to see that both artists managed to cooperate in a full length and not losing their trademark sonority. The last track "Storm before the calm" is a perfect way to end this project, in a low tune and melancholy vibe, giving its listeners the sense of the end of the journey that this album was, with jazzy saxophones being borrowed from Kaidi Akinnibi In short, this project was a beyond a success with many of its tracks sounding so different, so experimental, so good. The production on this is top-notch, with all the sounds present (and many of them really peculiar) having a purpose of existing in the context of each song, and for that, props for Yussef, a mind like-god in terms of drumming and musical structuring on the british Jazz scene. TRACK OF THE SPOTLIGHT: From the catalogue given to us, two tracks really stood out from the rest, being those "Lift off" and "Tidal Waves" and what makes this decision so difficult is that they are so different from each other: one has lyrics, the others does not; one carries so much bloom and sentiment, the other is pure instrumental brilliantism. And I cannot really differentiate one from another in terms of musical value. They are bot