For their first album on ACT after a long stint on Gondwana, UK trio Mammal Hands are continuing on their trajectory combining pastoral, spiritually aware jazz with hints of minimalism and classical to evoke a space that is constantly moving, but at a pace that is adventurous yet welcoming.
The subtle melodies that emerge from both sax and piano seem to appear as if plucked from the air, but these are given real impetus by the intricate shuffling rhythms that propel most pieces. The way that some tracks have a melody on one instrument while the other leads an abstract flight above means that the variety of relationship between the three instruments across the nine tracks presented here are ever-changing.
The piano shimmers and is elusive on “Alia’s Abandon” while the sax blows swiftly with a scattered sense of downhill momentum when percussion takes hold, whereas on “Paper Boats” they ply circular repetitive motifs that are really captivating, their disorienting demands assisted by waves of echoing cymbals. Stasis appears on the odd occasion and midway point “Fallow Tide” finds the notes with plenty of time to linger and dissipate in a minimalist reverie. Normal service is then resumed, but with a pastoral notion in the piano’s playfulness describing a beautiful view of the English countryside. This music has a real power to transport both both in a cerebral and a physical sense, lifting the listener in a dreamlike haze, accompanying the sax on its flights of fancy while the percussion works you around, never excessive but always essential.There is something classical in the feel of the piano on penultimate track “Four Flowers” and the rolled-up newspapers for drumsticks sound of the percussion is particularly enticing. Mammal Hands never harangue but are always guiding, offering and wiling you to move with them. There is sometimes a slightly pensive relationship between the sax and piano, particularly on closer “Submerge”. Here the sax is leaving home, trying to draw the piano out of its own consideration as if an irresistible yet questionable tryst is on the cards.
Mammal Hands lead with their heart and definitely not the head, and it is these swells of emotion and desire to communicate that sets the album apart and makes it such a pleasure.-Mr Olivetti-
