AUTOBIOGRAPHIE

The year 2023 is proving to be a great year for the comeback of England's Canterbury Scene with February finding the long awaited sophomore album from Zopp blowing away a Canterbury crazed prog scene and released on the very same day is the USA's own Muffins spin-off group MANNA / MIRAGE which finds its fifth album AUTOBIOGRAPHIE crashing the wacky party of avant-jazz-prog run amok. This project of David Newhouse which began as a side project from Maryland's The Muffins has turned out to be an equally fascinating group in its own right that has developed its own identity without jettisoning its Canterbury connections.

While Newhouse (who has also been involved with Skeleton Crew with Fred Frith and another side project Diratz) is the main man here who handles keys, reeds, guitars, kalimba, accordion, harmonica and who bunch else! Joining him is ten guest musicians covering the basics like bass, drums and guitar to more exotic sounds including the violin, trombone, mallets and bells. The Bandcamp page claims that this if the fifth and final album from MANNA / MIRAGE so this very well could be the end of the road for this band that has so effortlessly melded the warmth of the Canterbury jazz rock scene with the more angular excesses of avant-prog.

AUTOBIOGRPAHIE features nine all-instrumental tracks at just over 46 minutes of playing time. The music is roughly a third Canterbury jazz, a third avant-prog and a third various ethnic folk music styles all mashed up into a cool stroll into the world of instrumental prog. The album also finds a cameo of two early members of The Muffins, Michael Bass on drums and Michael Zentner on electric violin. This album is well paced with each track sounding distinct whether it's the Canterbury dominated opening "Phantosmia" or the tango-fueled "Practicing Tonglin In A Time Of War." The wealth of instrumentation provides an endless supply of tones and timbres adorning each musical motif like a wildflower bloom after the spring rains.

Not much to say about this really. This is mostly on the slower to mid-tempo range and doesn't get as wild and adrenaline fueled as classic Muffins albums. This is more like easy listening avant-prog with the warmth of Canterbury tones and keyboard workouts. The instrumental interplay on this is excellent with all kinds of instruments sharing space with the consistency of the keys, guitar, bass and drums. Supposedly Newhouse is just retiring the name MANNA / MIRAGE but continuing music in this style. Considering he's involved in so many other projects perhaps he's just overextended himself or simply doesn't want to exhaust the MANNA / MIRAGE playbook. Whatever the case AUTOBIOGRAPHIE isn't a bad way to end it all. A beautifully consistent album that may not scream out masterpiece of the ages but offers an excellent roster of diverse tracks.