In the main, it could be assumed that Snarky Puppy’s bandleader, Michael League sleeps soundly in his bed every night. For sure, his band’s latest collaboration with Jules Buckley’s Metropole Orkest focuses on the land of dreams and is a generally calming soundtrack for drifting pleasantly into the arms of Morpheus.
That is, apart from the unsettling and somewhat disorientating “Chimera”. Alone among the tunes on Somni, it’s anything but relaxed and seductive. This rather forceful track could be an imaginary collaboration between Bristol’s post-jazzers, Get The Blessing and Charles Mingus’ late 1950s big band, with a howling Zappa-esque guitar solo to spice things up even more. It certainly comes across as a direct repost to the Steve Reich flavoured “As You Are But Not As You Were”, with repetitive xylophone riff that proceeds it and the breezy, easy listening vibe of “Between Worlds” that follows it.
In fact, for the majority of Somni, things are distinctly chilled and the live audience, for whom these pieces were recorded over three nights in Utrecht earlier this year, must have felt their eye lids feeling particularly heavy during the woozy and smouldering sounds of “Drift”. However, that’s not to suggest that this album is likely to send listeners off into the Land of Nod once they hit the play button. Opening track, “Wave Upon Waves” motors along with lush orchestral vibes supported by a variety of diverse solos, featuring gypsy violin, horn and even a flute. While “Recurrent” is a quarter of an hour-long hip-swinging, funky groove with all kinds of sounds breaking out and then fading away around it – from a stabbed, minimalist piano motive to lively piano, horn, saxophone and drum solos.
In fact, whether this album was conceived to bag another Grammy for those involved or not, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if that’s the reward that Snarky Puppy and Metropole Orkest receive for their efforts.
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