The releases are coming thick and fast this wild year from the incandescent temple of music that is contemporary Sheffield! Here at PROLE JAZZ we have such an insane backlog of reviews to complete management have purged all slackers from the team, placing Jack Avery in a semi-permanent sin bin on a moon orbiting Venus and banning Oliver Porpoise Firefly from speaking until he submits something worthwhile. Intemperance and folly abound; loose morals and dissolution are endemic: the crew are rabid with the promise of impending summer and spend their days chanting to the sun and attempting to emulate goldfinch song on the PROLE JAZZ kazoo.
Our only hope is the ever professional Vibez Grrrl & Holder of the Cosmic Pen Celestial Broc. She delved into the hazy, beat-filled world of jazz-step heroes Jackson Swaby & Jackie Moonbather (PROLE JAZZ faves who made it onto our prestigious 2018 end of year list) and reviewed the quite wonderful Indigo, a laconic and dreamboat chillwave classic of 2019, a sensual, psychedelic fugue of collaboration borne of honey and mist and starlight and groove. Over to the Broc!
Celestial Broc: This music is going to cost me a fortune
This music will diminish your rational thought processes and will envelop you in a cloud of self-obsession. You will notice couture detail, you will perform involuntary hip slouches, delicately pout, and one shoulder may drop as you turn. As you listen to this music you will trial a rudimentary cat walk, that will flourish into subtle dance moves. All clothes are going to look good on you when you listen to this music. Just don’t take it shopping with you or you will buy everything you take into the changing rooms.
Indigo begins with a chanting mantra telling us that if tomorrow is anything like today, it’s going to be OK. Layers of melodies sweep through stratified bass and falseto vocals, and the upbeat vibes continue through the whole EP with smooth repetitive riffs and reassuring lyrics. By the end of the EP the spun out electronic beats, clicks and claps behind the dreamy hypnotic vocalisations will have you in a full supermodel trance and you’ll awake in Brooklyn, now a fully-fledged Williamsburger, half way down Division Street.
There is little wonder that the fashionista in me was awoken by this latest release from Jackson Swaby. He is a fine art graduate and fashion designer (https://www.ordermateria.com/), alongside making electronic music. He’s driven by collaboration, and the output from his continuing work with Jackie Moonbather certainly works well. Jackie’s jazz, neo-soul fusion tempers the electronic beats. Jackson dilates you while Jackie focuses your attention. As a result, their collaboration is what I can only describe as complementarily elegant, or perhaps elegantly complementary? Jackie’s lyrics are directed in a way that you feel like they are for you and you only. The music is hypnotic but you hear every detail: every stuttered beat, haunting vocalisation, fingerstyle bass, intake of breath. I think it’s because you are waiting to hear what Jackie is going to say to you next. The vocal effects aren’t all dreamy (you’ll know when you get to that bit) – but sometimes you need to be brought back to reality. Especially if you’re as skint as I am.
~ Celestial Broc
Wanna read more about Sheffield’s releases of 2019 so far? Check out our article HERE to elevate your sonic world!
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