A beautifully quirky, unique, cross-genre, melodic, magically meandering experimental release of surreal lyricism of jazz-folk-pop by the Belgian-US duo of Zach Phillips and Ma Clément joined by an ensemble of six other musicians. Clément’s high, clear gentle voice seems perfectly paired, for example, with the fabulous flourishes of flute by André Sacalxot, who also plays alto saxophone. Co-writer Phillips noodles busily on keyboards, while Daniel Rossi’s percussion explodes in all sorts of leaping time signature directions , but all the musicians blend perfectly, including also a deft Thom Gill on electric guitar and Logan Kane on bass. Recorded in Brooklyn and Brussels, itt’s all best enjoyed as a series of otherworldly sensations, opener Hover begins with the lyrics: “Rain rearranges flame / How it falls below it stays / Pools in little puddles,” and this is very much how the music sounds, a cascading parade of hallucinatory moments. The gentler, slower Toute Suite meanwhile also takes us with striking immediacy to new places: “I’m in lightning / I’m in moss / I don’t care who you are / You’ve just been double crossed / Without a motive, I began to speak /Stolen by a god toute suite.” The phrasing is constantly playful, a little reminiscent of the verse of Dr Seuss. The short track Would You Rather? features the voice of the American avant-garde playwright Richard Foreman speaking haltingly from his City Archives (1978): “In this record there are gaps but they are filled with images.” Other highlights include the catchy It’s So Easy, As Above So Below, Love Weapon, Transparent featuring an electric sitar, the title track, the funky Kayfabe, Dark Dancing, and French language closer Haute Contre Bas, but the whole album is deliciously different and entrancing. Out on Fat Possum Records.
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