Bring Backs (Anti/Epitaph)
Alfa Mist
Released April 23, 2021
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2021
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kafP29rkbPswqpTz1rIITA-vRfCEGt7w4
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4qoGWMatT4g6qA7UCoPnJq?si=YrQBOhxATOaHrsNjhpDyMA
About:
Bring Backs marks Alfa’s first release for the label ANTI- and is also the most detailed exploration of his upbringing in musical form. The album’s nine tracks of groove-based intricacies, lyrical solipsism and meandering fragmentations are tied together by a remarkable poem written by Hilary Thomas expressing the sensuous realities of building community in a new country. Entirely written and produced by Alfa, the album was recorded in London with a core band of longtime collaborators including Jamie Leeming (guitar), Kaya Thomas-Dyke (bass and vocals) and Johnny Woodham (trumpet).
Over the past 5 years Alfa has steadily established himself as one of the most dynamic and consistent talents to emerge from London’s widely celebrated jazz reformation. Building on long standing affiliations with the likes of breakout star Jordan Rakei, Alfa has always carved his own lane, following a distinctly outsider’s approach and free from the trappings of a traditional musical training. Having arrived at jazz in search of samples for his teenage hip-hop productions, Alfa eventually taught himself piano by ear and quickly developed a unique style, with hip-hop rhythms driving throughout the improvisational forms, all bound by a pervasive sense of melody. His first three solo albums ‘Nocturne’ (2015), ‘Antiphon’ (2017) and ‘Structuralism’ (2019) were all released on his own label Sekito, and were interspersed with countless collaborations and side projects, highlighting a prolific work ethic and true versatility across piano, rapping and production that has established Alfa at the centre of an amorphous cohort of talented musicians to emerge from London.
Track Listing:
1. Teki (Alfa Mist) 06:00
2. People (Alfa Mist) 02:59
3. Mind the Gap (Alfa Mist) 03:28
4. Run Outs (Alfa Mist) 04:52
5. Last Card (Bumper Cars) (Alfa Mist) 04:26
6. Coasting (Alfa Mist) 04:49
7. Attune (Alfa Mist) 07:04
8. Once a Year (Alfa Mist) 01:22
9. Organic Rust (Alfa Mist) 04:36
Personnel:
Alfa Mist: electric piano, synth (1-7, 9), vocals (3, 5, 9)
Jamie Leeming: guitar (1-7, 9)
Kaya Thomas-Dyke: bass guitar (1-7), vocals (2)
Jamie Houghton: drums (1, 3-7)
Johnny Woodham: trumpet (1, 3-7)
Junior Alli-Balogun: percussion (1-6)
Sam Rapley: bass clarinet (1, 5)
Hilary Thomas: vocals (1, 5, 7)
Lex Amor: vocals (3)
Peggy Nolan: cello (2, 5, 6, 8)
Sam Rapley: tenor saxophone (4, 7)
Richard Spaven: drums (8)
Rocco Palladino: bass (9)
Recorded at Gizzard Studios, London, UK, by Ed Deegan, except tracks 8 & 9 recorded at Soup Studio, London, UK, by Simon Trought
Mixed by Will Holland
Mastered by Guy Davie
Artwork by Kaya Thomas-Dyke
Layout by Magnus Bergamn
Produced by Alfa Mist
Review:
On his fourth full-length, 2021’s genre-melding Bring Backs, British pianist and rapper Alfa Mist showcases his vivid, enveloping mix of jazz, R&B, classical, and hip-hop. The album follows 2019’s Structuralism, which appeared on Mist’s own Sekito label. For Bring Backs, Mist moved to the Anti- label, a shift that finds him further expanding his evocative brand of organic, hip-hop jazz. A largely self-taught pianist, the East London-reared Mist plays in a laid-back, harmonically nuanced style informed by ’70s jazz and fusion, ’90s hip-hop, and modern electronic production. Mist brings this cross-pollinated aesthetic to Bring Backs, crafting tracks that feel inspired by vintage Lonnie Liston-Smith or George Duke recordings, but with a keen, contemporary ear. Helping him achieve this vibrant, earthy sound are his bandmates, including Jamie Leeming (guitar), Kaya Thomas-Dyke (bass and vocals), Jamie Houghton (drums), and Johnny Woodham (trumpet). The opening “Teki” is a languid fusion number built around a sparkling guitar arpeggio that Leeming expands with a knotty, Pat Metheny-esque solo. Equally compelling is “Run Outs,” a dreamy, trap beat groover punctuated by Mist’s astral keyboard flourishes and space alien sax and trumpet lines. No less expansive is the otherworldly “Mind the Gap,” a woozy slow-jam rap duet between Mist and Lex Amor that brings to mind ’90s, “Rebirth of the Slick”-era Digable Planets. More grounded is “People,” a lyrical and folky R&B ballad in which Thomas-Dyke’s yearning vocals are framed by woody guitar, percussion, and orchestral accents. Strings, flutes, and other classical sounds pop-up throughout the album, as on “Last Card (Bumper Cars),” a lush, midtempo number whose reedy, trumpet and sax harmonies recall Gil Evans’ work with Miles Davis. Mist’s classical inclinations take full form on “Once a Year,” a brief, yet languorous chamber piece that, as with all of Bring Backs, underlines his wide-ranging taste.
Matt Collar (AllMusic)
