Back in May of this year, Seattle octet Polyrhythmics put out the album Man From the Future, a set of diversified excursions into funky music, tooled to high standards but with an elevated energy level. The future is here now, such as it is, and the band follows up that album with five tracks from its sessions that didn’t quite fit the overall feel. This suite, celebrating the band’s tenth anniversary, zooms in on Polyrhythmics’ mellower side, dialing down the tempo and letting the grooves, techniques, and atmospheres breathe like fine wine just uncorked. They do manage to touch on most of their key inclinations, with the African soul-jazz of “Cosimo”, the flowing cosmic blues of “Cracked Pepper”, and the bare-bones dub reggae, stirring horns, and mysterious synth phrases of the record’s cornerstone, “Zion”. While the “fondue party” theme might be a bit tongue and cheek, it’s nonetheless à propos. The jams here are simple, rich, and satisfying, with the consistency of a good gruyere dripping languorously off a hunk of baguette at fork‘s end.
