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Review by David West
Mutant vegetables, schizophrenic spoken word passages, and a
didgeridoo bump into each other on the second album from the
genre-warping trio of Nick Beggs, Adam Holzman and Craig Blundell.
Musically speaking, The New Normal picks up from 2021’s Fragments,
offering listeners a high-spirited blend of groovy fusion and
experimental prog delivered in easily digestible bite-sized servings.
Where
most albums in the fusion world tend to feature longer tracks that
allow plenty of time for expansive soloing, there’s a clear sense of
discipline here. While The New Normal is a double album for those
experiencing it on vinyl, the tracks are the length of pop songs, barely
stretching over four minutes for the very longest.
Consequently,
there’s never any danger of an idea outstaying its welcome or a musical
motif being dissected until any trace of the original melody has long
since vanished.
What’s noticeably different this time compared to Fragments
is the greater prominence of Beggs’s voice. The majority of the music
remains instrumental, yet he sings several tunes, bringing a heartfelt
tenderness to the ballad Once Around The Sun, and a satirical sensibility to Stupid Pop Song.
The album is punctuated by spoken interludes in which Beggs argues with
himself, playing either siblings or perhaps two sides of his own mind,
debating who’s the better didgeridoo player in Sibling Rivalry and trying to escape himself in What Are You Doing.
There’s more surreal humour in Stroboscopic Fennel which brings to mind Frank Zappa, Paul Gilbert’s 2012’s album Vibrato, or some of Stewart Copeland’s wackier compositions. Like that other prog-fusion power trio The Aristocrats,
Trifecta often walks in the footsteps of Zappa, marrying a knack for
catchy hooks and an enthusiasm for songcraft with prodigious technical
ability and a sense of the absurd, qualities evidenced in tracks like Ornamental Lettuce and the slinky Kleptocrat.
Theo Travis guests on Daddy Long Legs, although it’s not the most compelling tune, while Alex Lifeson’s presence on Once Around The Sun is distinctly understated. More engaging are the tips of the hat to some of the group’s musical forebears; Beck And Call is a tribute to the late guitar genius with Holzman capturing Jeff Beck’s sinuous lead style, Bach Stabber taps into Johann Sebastian’s enthusiasm for Baroque minor keys, while On The Spectrum looks towards Billy Cobham’s funky fusion.
The
humorous interludes may prove divisive; certainly, the album sounds
strongest when the trio dig hard into a groove on the funkier tunes and
showcase the music rather than the comedy.
Studio Album, released in 2024
Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Beck and Call
2. Dot are you Wooing?
3. Stroboscopic Fennel
4. Just Feel it Karen
5. Sibling Rivalry
6. Ornamental Lettuce
7. Daddy Long Legs
8. What are you Doing?
9. Stupid Pop Song
10. Crime Spree
11. Bach Stabber
12. Kleptocrat
13. Once Around the Sun with You
14. Chinese Fire Drill
15. Ouch! My OCD
16. Wake Up Call
17. Wacky Tobaccy
18. Canary in a Five and Dime
19. On the Spectrum
Line-up / Musicians
- Nick Beggs / bass, Chapman stick
- Craig Blundell / drums
- Adam Holzman / keyboards
With:
- Alex Lifeson / guitar (13)
- Theo Travis / saxophone (7)
Releases information
Label: Kscope
Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital
April 12, 2024
“Instantly recognisable, all detuned
guitars and intricately detailed melodies… it feels like we’re waiting
for Peter Gabriel’s vocals”: Anthony Phillips and Harry Williamson’s
Gypsy Suite
Remastered and expanded set from the former Genesis guitarist has its roots in the mid-70s, but feels timeless and evocative
Haunting and majestic, sonorous and plaintive, this bumper set bundles together Anthony Phillips and Harry Williamson’s 1995 album Gypsy Suite along with demos for their earlier collaboration Tarka.
Phillips and Williamson – whose father, Henry Williamson, wrote the children’s book Tarka The Otter
– first started sketching ideas for these songs in the summer of 1971,
but it wouldn’t be until four years later that they’d knuckle down and
start creating the music that would eventually become Gypsy Suite.
Its
four movements may stretch back to the mid-70s, but the purity of the
music and its delivery has made these pieces almost timeless. Phillips
is instantly recognisable, all detuned guitars and intricately detailed
melodies – his playing on Movement II: Siesta is so stirring and warm that it’s all you can do to drop everything and wonder why you’re suddenly weeping.
He
and Williamson do evocative very well, conjuring up aural colours and
shapes that transport the mind. And inevitably, there are moments when –
this being Phillips at his showboating 70s best – it feels like we’re
waiting for a break in the music to usher in Peter Gabriel’s vocals, so familiar is the guitarist phrasing and tone, though never to the detriment of the songs themselves.
This reissue also features the demos for Phillips and Williamson’s rejected score for the 1974 movie Tarka The Otter, which was eventually completed and launched in 1988. It’s completed by the unreleased Movement III: The Hunt –
a rousing, revolving piano piece that sounds as though it should be the
accompanying soundtrack to a dark and complex murder mystery.
It’s
strange to think now that they struggled to find a label to release the
original album, though the duo did turn down a deal with a Virgin
imprint that offered them a multitrack tape recorder in lieu of an
advance payment. No matter – these songs have transcended the years,
shining as brightly and bold now as they ever did.
Gypsy Suite is on sale now via Esoteric.
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