If you hate jazz, stop reading. NOW. You will not like this record.
Bill Wells as now at the stage of his career where he could be described as a luminary of the Scottish jazz scene; his work in the Bill Wells Octet, and latterly Trio, established him on the scene, his collaborations with ex-Belle & Sebastien members, arch-white noise merchant David Keenan, and Future Pilot AKA, pushed his work into more of a mainstream sphere. And now, with his second outing with Japanese chaotic ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz (a Biblical reference, no less), he’s having fun. Led by Tori Kudo, a shadowy figure from Japanese politics, MSHB don’t leave their brown notes in the shadows; this record reaches for – and attains – a high levels of faux-naivety. The tunes merge into one another, vaguely evoking Morricone at his most avant garde, or a nice Sunday afternoon in a second hand bookshop, sipping strong coffee. There’s a jauntiness to the record that would make the hardest of hearts filter out the brown notes. Wells’ compositions are playful and melodic, his playing getting in on the scale-ignoring antics, and you can hear him enjoying himself. There are moments of sheer beauty, though: ‘Poxy’ evokes the 60s spy thriller soundtracks of the Ipcress File or early Bond, the descending chord progression adding emotional weight and poignancy to the wayward strings; ‘Time Takes Me Back’ is a lush piano ballad sung in Japanese, the voice reduced to an instrument to these ignorant ears, tapping the vein of Sigur Ros’ early purity with mourning horns tearing away.
It’s a challenging listen, but a rewarding one; that Sunday afternoon picking up early 60s Penguins will leave you with a smile on your face.
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