Authenticity writ large
All I can think of at first while recharging my memory battery when my thoughts turn in welcome fashion to Spaven’s work hitherto, without looking up anything first, is the drummer’s collaborations with singer José James. Remember the fabulous ‘Trouble’?
I see Spaven, he’s usually just referred to by his surname, as more of a clubby crossover broken beats player, groove meister and more with a groaning back catalogue of credits. Oh, and a very good one at that. But Light of Day could not be more different as Spaven under his own steam shooting his head above the parapet leading the charge under his own name goes quite a bit Nordic, if not a world, a night bus ride, away from the old Mau Mau bar scene, and floatily ambient flecked – you read it here first – with bits of serious jazz flute (Graeme Blevins – no Ron Burgundy he) popping up even pleasurably. The crossroads where jazz props up electronic music is explored seemingly effortlessly without any need for mutual backslappery or a takeover by all that bleeping and futuristic blare.
Consummate skill? Tick that box. Cmere there’s more. The London drummer keeps the arrangements relatively spare, giving the musicians around him room to shape the music rather than packing out every available space.
Several albums squeezed into one it seems
While a range of top trumpeters are involved, notably the Finn Verneri Pohjola no stranger to issuing label Edition and brilliant on Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson’s ACT Records release Trio with English guitarist John Parricelli a few years ago, it’s Norwegian icon Spaven’s label mate Nils Petter Molvær who injects the definitive mournfulness to this most on ‘Distant Signal.’ It is a co-write of Spaven’s with keyboardist Oli Rockberger whose new single under his own name as leader is ‘What Does It Say.’
Manchester scene guitarist Stuart McCallum – I loved City that he and Spaven were on more than a decade ago – is closely involved in the album’s melodic and textural detail and adds some writing too. The electronic elements are there, but Spaven avoids the temptation to make these the main event. It’s outcome rather than process that counts. But maybe, and my main criticism, this is like several albums as if shrunk down to one a bit too much. The rap from Wildchild on ‘Finders’ especially seems to belong to another record entirely.
The modal basis of ‘Let Me Say It For You’ gives the piece a stronger jazz identity although overall the album’s core credibility is not an issue at all. Mercifully there is nothing especially showy or at all meretricious about Light of Day.
Richard Spaven, photo: via Yamaha
