(!K7/Inertia)

Glenn Miller meets musique concrete and political agitation in latest ambitious release from muso/producer.

Matthew Herbert is already renowned as a producer/arranger for the likes of Roisin Murphy and Bjork, as well as being an electronica musician whose avant-garde approach regularly updates the methods pioneered by the French practitioners of musique concrete in the 1950s.  His latest experiment is perhaps his most audacious of all, a blend of political themes, laptop squelches, home-made samples and big band jazz arrangements, equal parts Elmer Bernstein and noir experimentalist Barry Adamson. On the sleeve, Herbert and his musicians sign a petition, solemnly declaring that “music can still be a political force of note and not just the soundtrack to over-consumption”. Whether or not you take Herbert’s musical activist approach seriously, the music remains intriguing throughout the album. Closing track Just Swing is the most trad jazz offering, while on the other end of the spectrum are the nervy sound sculpture electronica pieces Battery and Regina. The best tracks on the album blend both elements – you can hear sonic squiggles, rollicking horns and torch song vocals blended seamlessly together in The Story, Pontificate and Yesness. This is what ultimately makes the album stand out among the plethora of both jazz and electronic albums – respect is due.

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MATT THROWER

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