In this album review, you’ll read a host of names. They sum up the eclectic proposition of this Everything is Recorded album.
Producer and director Richard Russell is behind this multi-faceted project. He runs the XL record label, which has produced albums by Adele, MIA, Radiohead, Florence and the Machine and others. He has also produced the latest albums by the great Afro-American poet Gil Scott-Heron, three records by the Franco-Cuban duo Ibeyi and collaborated on several projects by keyboardist Damon Albarn. Eclecticism, as I said.
Temporary is the third release from Everything Is Recorded. In each project, Russell surrounds himself with collaborators from totally different backgrounds, whom he loves to mix. Here, we find more than ever: Sampha, the brilliant keyboardist and singer, Kamasi Washington and his dad Rickey C on saxophones and flutes, Maddy Prior, a veteran of British folk, Bill Callahan, American singer, Yazz Ahmed, trumpeter, Jah Wobble, the bassist from Public Image Limited, and the experimental rock group Mary in the Junkyard.
I’ll stop here, but the list could go on. Sometimes in groups of four, five or as a duo, always with Richard Russell, who “records everything” and adds his keyboards and electronic effects. Unlike the first two opuses, which were based more on improvisation, here we witness a greater effort at studio composition.
The risk here, of course, is that this proposal is so eclectic as to be scattered and disjointed. But this is absolutely not the case. All the pieces flow efficiently together, interspersed with monologues, to form a coherent whole that deepens with repeated listens.
And how does it sound? Damn right! Like soft indie-rock, mixed with folk, jazz and electro, with different but complementary female voices. It begins and ends with birdsong. In an interview with British media, Richard Russell explained that this album is about grief, loss and loss of loved ones, but that he wanted the music he makes to have a healing effect. In that respect, I think it’s pretty successful. If there are a few imperfections on this opus, the overall proposition is original and unifying. To be listened to without moderation.
