Friday, September 21, 2018

Ishmael Ensemble - Severn Songs 2 (October 26, 2018)


“Hints of the late '90s 'Bristol sound', a hypnotic rhythm section and an almost pastoral feel” Complex
“Absolutely gorgeous” Tom Ravenscroft, BBC6 Music
“Beautiful music” Dan Snaith, Caribou
“Unfolds like a shimmering stone skipping across a lake. Gorgeous” XLR8R
“These guys  just  get  better  with  every  release”  Gilles  Peterson, BBC6  Music
“Fantastic  stuff  from  Bristol” Thristian, WorldWide FM
“An incredibly exciting project” BBC Introducing
“Super tunes!”  Antal, Rush Hour Records
“Celestial” The Vinyl Factory
“Approaches jazz in a forward-thinking manner, seamlessly incorporating electronics and resamples” Music Is My Sanctuary

Pete Cunningham

On 26th October multi-instrumentalist/DJ Pete Cunningham and cohorts AKA Ishmael Ensemble, present ‘Severn Songs 2’ – the second in a 7” vinyl trilogy inspired by Bristol, its surrounding regions and, as the title suggests, the River Severn.

‘Severn Songs 2’ follows media praise, radio airplay and DJ support for ‘Severn Songs 1’ from the likes  of  Dan  Snaith (Caribou),  Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, The Vinyl Factory  and  XLR8R. Prior to that, 2017  saw  Ishmael  Ensemble’s  first  EP ‘Songs  for  Knotty’ released on Banoffee Pies,  followed  by  a  remix  of  Carl  Craig’s ‘The Melody’.

The ‘Severn Songs’  series  marks  the  most  full-bodied  and  ambitious  project  yet  from  Pete  Cunningham, who prior to evolving into this varying collective of musicians recorded and released solo, as simply Ishmael. Promising beginnings under that initial guise saw releases on Wolf  Music, West Friends  and  Church,  alongside contemporaries  Seb  Wildblood,  Medlar  and Frits  Wentink. 

‘Severn Songs 2’ sees Cunningham slip into  a  nostalgic  haze, throwing back  to  his  formative years  in  Bristol’s  late  noughties scene,  but  cast  through  a  prism  of  jazzwise  electronica;  surely  the furthest  apple  of  influence  to  fall  from  the  Hessle-Hotflush  tree.

‘Tunnels’ begins with a flurry of  drums  before  being  enveloped  by  sub-bass  pressure,  like stepping  directly  into  a  basement  club  in  full  flow.  As  the  track  climaxes,  saxophones  sweep the  air  like  green-spoked  lasers  overhead,  creating  a  contrast  of  pinpoint  clarity  against  the background  atmosphere.  Though  sonically  well  outside  Bristol’s  dubstep  legacy,  it  accurately portrays  the  smudged  perception  of  a  peak  time  rave. 

On  the  flip,  we  find  the  more  introverted 'First  Light',  wherein  the  group  downshift  from  the  buzz  of  a  bustling  room  to  the  hum  of  one’s head  as  dawn  breaks.  It’s  a  moment  of  spacious  solitude  shared  only,  as  Cunningham pictures  it,  with  “swans  fighting  over  polystyrene  chip  boxes”  in  the  canal  below.

Never  one  to  miss  a  beat  in  either  sense  of  the  phrase,  Cunningham  has  once  again  littered canny  references  to  compliment  the  reverential  music.  The  sleeve  art  captures  birds  through an  obscured  lens,  nodding  to  the  river  Avon  and  overall  milieu  that  inspired  ‘First  Light’;  and for  native  Bristolians  especially,  the  A-side  will  evoke  a  fertile  period,  full  of  vital  music, communal  escapism,  and  the  maze  of  basements  and  tunnels  where  it  blossomed. 

Overall, Pete’s ability  to  thread  this  thematic  needle  gives  a  descriptive  tenor  to  the  group’s wordless  sound,  elevating  the  music  at  once  to  something  more  personal  and  more  resonant  – and  leaving  soon-to-be-answered  questions  about  where  ‘Severn  Songs’  will  flow  to  next.