THE WEATHERMAN IS WRONG

Sophisticated, smart neo-soul jazz-pop from NYC. Like hearing KOOP 20 years after the fact: Koop 2.022! (I love the band's own descriptor of "kaleidoscopic sense of time and texture"!) A big shout out to Progzilla's Epileptic Gibbon for making me aware of these amazing artists and their stunningly beautiful album!

1. "Cicadas" (5:08) strings--multiple tracks filtered through delay and echo and then woven together. So cool! (And so Jean-Luc Ponty like!) Synth pop keys and drums join in as do dreamy horns, vocalize and bass. When Hannah Selin begins to sing with verbal articulation at 2:10 her breathy ingenue voice comes in with such a sexy innocence. Totally reminiscent of 2001 KOOP with the vocal talents of the great contributions of chanteuses Cecilia Stalin Yakumi Nagano. What a refreshing, incredible start! (9/10)

2. "Bear" (1:53) opening as a very folkie tune reminding me of both HANDS OF THE HERON and A FORMAL HORSE, the music soon expands to become a more happy-go-lucky pop song with some jazzy nuances. (5/5)

3. "Dreamhouse" (5:46) a song whose complex rhythms only gain in sophistication and complexity as the song goes. Absolutely brilliant! What a great vocal performance. My favorite song on an album of great songs. (10/10)

4. "At Play" (4:05) representing more of the pure torch singing jazz vocalist, beautiful music/accompaniment certainly helps. The creative Burt Bacharach-like contributions of the horn section really change things; this is not the song I was expecting to unfold from those opening bars. I am very much reminded of the compositional skills and creativity of Philadelphia band iNFiNiEN as I listen to this. (9.5/10)

5. "Makeup" (4:16) a very pleasant jazz torch song. Hannah's breathy voice is so perfect set against the piano-based spacious jazz instrumental accompaniment. (8.875/10)

6. "Ocean's Children" (4:41) this one reminds me of JULIA HOLTER. Such creative genius coming from this vocalist! Another song that benefits so much from the horns, solid rhythm section and wobbly Herbie Hancock-like Fender Rhodes. (9.25/10)

7. "Tides" (4:42) the plodding rhythm line is a bit confusing, but then Hannah's DIANA KRALL-like vocal performance starts and I'm in a totally different universe. (What rhythm line?) I love the way the band/horns swell with the end of Hannah's vocal lines! Absolutely brilliant! Then there's a dramatic switch to a new jazzier blues motif at the three- minute mark, but things seem to settle back a bit for the final minute. (9.25/10)

8. "Prove to You" (4:44) despite Hannah's rock-like core vocal performance, I have to admit that the contribution of the Xanthoria (string) Quartet here is incredible--especially around that gorgeous chorus. (9.25/10)

9. "City Lights" (3:53) on this song Hannah's vocal performance is "hidden" somewhat within/behind the horns and piano. A pretty song, it doesn't quite live up to the amazing effectiveness of the others. (8.75/10)

Lead vocalist Hannah Selin's voice (and the effects the band & engineers have chosen to soak it with) reminds of the singers the Swedish duo calling themselves KOOP used on their 2003 album Waltz for Koop--though more Yakumi Nagano than Cecilia Stalin, though, in actual fact, more like a blend of the two. Gadadu's music is similar, as well, but much more sophisticated.

For as much as this band has excelled at eclectically gathering and blending from pop, jazz, folk, fusion, and avant garde musical traditions, I feel as this is the first album on which the band has most adventurously and confidently expressed their own musical style(s)--as if they have finally begun to express musics of the future more than syntheses of the past.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of jazz-rock fusion and definitely a wonderful addition to any prog lover's music collection.

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