On the 26th November, five-piece hybrid jazz outfit Black Flower are set to release ‘Magma’, the second single taken from the band’s forthcoming album of the same name released 28th January via Sdban Ultra. “We present this latest single as a metaphor for what is to come - moments in time when music comes to the surface taking a concrete form, shared and used to amplify the beauty of life. Being the title track of the upcoming album it reflects a boiling, churning, silent energy. It is the core, the source. It is a state between solid and liquid and represents ancient energy and new potential. The track. An arching melody from the cornet gives way to an eruptive solo on baritone sax.” EMBED
Black Flower is a band at the peak of their creative powers. Having received glowing praise for the 2019 album ‘Future Flora’ from Mojo, Songlines, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 3’s Music Planet, Worldwide FM and Jazz FM among others, forthcoming album ‘Magma’ sees Black Flower embrace new synth and organ sounds from the band’s most recent recruit, Karel Cuelenaere. Piloted by Brussels-based saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Echoes of Zoo, Dijf Sanders), the quintet is a vibrant, hypnotic mix of Ethio jazz, afrobeat, psychedelia and oriental influences, inspired by Mulatu Astatke, Fela Kuti and varied western musical traditions.
Across ‘Magma’, Cuelenaere’s influence can be heard from the outset – his keys adding a swirling, mischievousness to album opener and title track ‘Magma’. Elsewhere, the shuffling drum patterns and flighty, flute-propelled ‘O Fogo’ are rich in texture and flow. Driving rhythms and Eastern influenced melodies serve as a rich source of pleasure that, like magma, become real and solid when finding its way to the surface. It’s the perfect metaphor for this album’s creational process. The pulsating, trance-inducing ‘Deep Dive Down’ continues the joyous process while singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees (winner of The Montreux Jazz Talent Award 2021) adds, her clear-as-spring-water vocals to the celestial ‘Morning in the Jungle’.
“Riveting playfulness and throttling sense of adventure” Mojo
“Music that will make you turn on, tune in and turn it right up” Songlines
“Bends the purist rules of world music to good effect” (The Independent)
“We’re fans of knitwear-loving Belgian five-piece Black Flower. Why wouldn’t you be?” The Artsdesk
“Brilliant” Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 6 Music/Worldwide FM
With the much-trusted Frederik Segers on production and London-based visual virtuoso Raimund Wong (Total Refreshment Centre) on artwork duties, it all adds up to the psychedelic and exploratory identity of the band and are key elements that helped ‘Magma’ in its ascension from deep down up to the surface. A creative process solidified into vinyl, just as magma into rock.
Fellow musicians and spiritual henchmen are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, MDCIII) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas) at the bass and Karel Cuelenaere (John Ghost) on keys.
Sdban Records is an independent record label, obsessed with grooves. Based in Ghent, Belgium, the label is home to such artists as De Beren Gieren, John Ghost, Glass Museum, ECHT!, Azmari Compro Oro and STUFF.
1. Magma
2. O Fogo
3. The Light
4. Half Liquid
5. Deep Dive Down
6. Morning In The Jungle (feat. Meskerem Mees)
7. The Forge
8. Blue Speck
