Ash Walker has made a record here that transcends easy labels. It's the kind of thing I love because it fuses multiple genres, sometimes in one track. Aquamarine, out on Friday via Night Time Stories, is part jazz, part soul, part dub, part ambient. The sounds here create their own world, and it's one I was happy to enter as a listener.
The title cut is spacious jazz, a sleek dip into a vibe that's decidedly Seventies soul-indebted, while the tracks here which feature vocalist Laville, like "Sanity" and "Finishing Touch", are supple numbers that owe as much to the work of Massive Attack as they do to that of any obvious soul genre point of inspiration. "Fat King Smoke" is a late night anthem, the sort built for a long drive until dawn, while "Brave New World" is more spry, a lighter jazzier run towards the sun. Ash Walker has assembled here an arsenal of players -- Yazz Ahmed on flugelhorn, and Marc Cyril on bass, among others -- and the resulting soundscapes on Aquamarine are richly-enveloping ones. Ash Walker is a kind of visionary here, and I loved how this record blended so many things so easily, and with a naturalness that was appreciated.
Aquamarine is out on Friday via Night Time Stories.
More details on Ash Walker via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Dan Medhurst]