{"id":60765,"date":"2022-01-28T10:06:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T15:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=records&p=60765"},"modified":"2022-01-28T10:06:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T15:06:19","slug":"black-flower-magma","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/black-flower-magma\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Flower – Magma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belgian unit Black Flower can boast Beck, Calexico, Marc Ribot, and Lee Perry on their collective curriculum vitae, so capable playing is assured in this endeavour of stylistically porous, frequently funky jazz. Led by Nathan Daems (sax and other wind instruments), the quintet\u2019s other members are cornetist Jon Birdsong, drummer Simon Segers, bassist Filip Vandebril and organist Karel Cuelenaere. A recent addition to the band, Cuelenaere has certainly found his place\u2014his serpentine, high-register Ethiopian motifs are a primary ingredient here. So are Segers\u2019s frequent slips into Afro polyrhythms, but let it be clear that what Black Flower does is quite distinct from the ethnomusicological tribute bands one finds on many a festival\u2019s \u201cworld\u201d stage. There\u2019s an awful lot more going on in the grooves of Magma.<\/em> The endless bit and pieces to be picked apart are certainly one of the record\u2019s pleasures, yet the compositions are never unnecessarily cluttered. This is also despite a decidedly democratic disposition, giving each instrument equal say in all matters. Further to the credit of Daems and company are the simple and effective melodic ideas that guide the tracks, warm, expressive, and notably hopeful. Their evocations of sounds from beyond Belgium\u2019s borders are about optimism rather than mysticism. Highlights include the scintillating \u201cHalf Liquid\u201d and the album\u2019s one track with vocals (care of award-winning singer Meskerem Mees), \u201cMorning In The Jungle.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n