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 (Tru Thoughts/Creative Vibes)
Ten points for imagination, at least
You have to give Will Holland, better known as funk/soul revivalist Quantic, some credit for what he’s trying to achieve on this album. Although Cuba and Jamaica are a mere 145 kilometers apart, their music could not be further distant: the jazz and latin sounds of Hispanophone Cuba do not sit easily aside Anglophone Jamaica’s dub, dancehall, and reggae sounds. Bridging the gap between these two countries is a Herculean task, but one that Holland tackles in his Flowering Inferno side-project. Does it succeed, though? On a production level, Death Of The Revolution is remarkably well-executed, with Holland’s studio mastery effortlessly recreating the sounds of vintage recording equipment, cheerfully rusty brass instruments, and, for added authenticity, dusty vinyl clicks and pops. He even nails the aesthetic, creating something not unlike what might happen if you asked the Buena Vista Social club to cover the Wailers. Which is all well and good, but, unfortunately, having built a solid platform on which to make an interesting album, Holland languishes there. The songs on here are monotonous and repetitious, each with only one good hook that gets milked repeatedly (the fact that he includes reprises of several earlier songs at the end of the album is indicative). Even worse, only two tracks (Dub Del Pacifico and Juanita Bonita) contain vocals, and the latter contains only the words ‘Juanita Bonita’ repeated ad nauseum. While Death Of The Revolution is an aesthetic triumph, its lack of songwriting nous means that it’s best reserved for dinner parties.
**½
CHAD PARKHILL
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