| Felix's
second collaboration with the Italian saxophonist is indeed
a more consistently sunny affair than Hermetic. It benefits
by seeming much more spontaneous, as many tracks were in fact
recorded face to face, as simple duets. Instrumentation,
too, is lighter, with no drum machines or programming, and bass
only on one track. Felix concentrates instead on percussion,
with marimba featuring on four titles, some string samples,
clay pots, and of course the Rhodes piano and bass clarinet
making one appearance each. Nicola plays mostly soprano,
with one very Manu Dibango-like track on tenor, for which we
are again joined by ex-Wire drummer Robert Grey (this time playing
kalimba, or thumb piano). Other guests include Aqueous'
Andy Heath on keys for two truly transcendental tracks, and
the magisterial presence of Hans-Joachim Roedelius on "Clouded
moon" - the only crepuscular title on the whole album.
But it's followed by more sunshine ! Overall the mood is remarkably
bright and optimistic, its welcome warm-blooded southern serenity
making a striking contrast to the glacial intensity of Nicola's
Nordic counterpart, Jan Garbarek, with whom he has so often
been compared.
Fermina
Daza : Misfit City
Reviewing: Other Suns
It's
disarmingly simple. Alesini blows long lines of smoke or bittersweet
wine out of his saxophone, and then this other character Felix
Jay builds ghost-palaces around them; mostly with world percussion
(vibraphones, pots, metals, marimbas, thumb pianos) but as
ofetn it's with the plucked-sky ring of electric piano, or
amnesia strings, or whispers of bass. And then it all rises
up in soft, quiet, dizzy joy and takes you with it. Pieces
might have suspiciously New Age-y titles like "The Weir
Garden", "Between Sleeping and Waking" or "Liquidambar",
but - unlike New Age - they actually sound like their names.
I can't place it...This is nowhere near pop, it's not quite
jazz, it's not nature-programme fodder, it's...Grace. Right
from the first second it enchants. Somehow I don't feel the
need to put on my Prodigy record for...oh, I don't know. Another
week, at least. A record of almost unbelievable delicacy.
Cynic discovers that she's got a soul and it tingles.
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