Sometimes described as post-jazz, for their affinities with post-rockers such as Tortoise and Godspeed You Black Emperor, Seb Rochford’s quintet adopt a disarmingly postmodern approach to jazz, drawing from its vast library of styles with scant regard for the historical rivalries that have traditionally riven the genre into competing cliques and movements.
Basically, if it sounds right, it’s in, whether it’s the viola and mandolin augmenting the sax theme of “I Am Alive” or the looming electronic drone that gradually overwhelms the calm sax lines of “It Snows Again”.
It’s music marked by flamboyant dynamic changes, both within individual tracks, and between them – most effectively when the agonised sax squawking of “Industry” are supplanted by the treated cello and minimalist cycling saxes of “Leafcup”.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies