This second release shows off Kevin Figes’ distinctive compositions, blending jazz, the more relaxed side of prog-rock, and other influences. It features his quartet of top-drawer West Country players, in tandem with the the always-appealing voice of Brigitte Beraha.
It’s the same line-up as the band’s well-received first release, and the music has many of the same ingredients. Jim Blomfield uses acoustic piano but also contributes a wide range of electronic keyboard sounds. Ashley John Long on basses and Mark Whitlam on drums set up a variety of grooves. Figes plays his own composed lines and solos on saxes and flute. Beraha’s vocals are instrumentally subtle, and lend the ensemble a sound that really couldn’t be realised any other way, or perhaps by any other vocalist.
This new work differs from the original Wallpaper Music release, however, in featuring less improvising and a larger number of short tracks (13 to be precise), generally of four minutes or less. Most of them feature words, though there are wordless vocals too, and one solo piano miniature. They are songs, though the general feel is more fluid and ruminative than that label might suggest. The lyrics are mostly a touch whimsical, with a melancholy undertow. This is mirrored by the textures the band create and even, to a degree, by the solos. There is excellent playing from Figes and Blomfield in particular, as well as vocal excursions, but all is disciplined by the confines of written material.
Overall, this is a welcome further instalment of Figes’ explorations of influences that don’t touch that many of his contemporaries – from Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers to contemporary Italian film music. It’s an intriguing synthesis that ought to interest anyone who appreciates open-minded music in any of the genres he draws on.
Jon Turney writes about jazz, and other things, from Bristol. You can find him on WordPress and Bluesky.
