George Evelyn has been busy of late it would appear.
Not content with launching his new label Wax On Records
– check out the upcoming release Happy People
by Morcheeba pal JD73 – Warp’s longest-serving
artist (as Nightmares On Wax) has been putting together
his fifth studio album.
Five albums in 16 years may not seem terribly prolific
but then making the kind of lounging head music that
Evelyn has become famous for is presumably not something
that can be rushed. Things have certainly changed a
lot for Evelyn during his association with Warp. Skulking
beneath the bleeping MIDI interface on such early tracks
as the bass-heavy masterpieces Dextrous and
Aftermath was a soulful sound waiting to be
unleashed.
Through A Word Of Science (1991), the landmark
album Smoker’s Delight (1995), the similarly
lauded Car Boot Soul (1999) and finally Mind
Elevation (2002), Evelyn has created a laidback
legacy touched by the influence of hip-hop, dub, soul,
jazz and funk. This latest album unfolds like a journey
through all of these influences. In A Space Outta
Sound is a mature piece of work which is more performance
based than usual, expansive in its scope, celebrating
live instrumentation alongside the science of the mixing
room. As a result it is an album that Evelyn is keen
to take out on the road.
As is now the norm with Nightmares On Wax albums, the
opening track, Passion, is a gentle laidback
groove with lush chords, betraying once more Evelyn’s
love of Quincy Jones. Next up are two big dub-heavy
tunes that would be happy bursting out of the giant
sound system which features on the cover art. Big band
jazz takes over on Pudpots, only to be replaced
by a Persian snake charmer’s harpsichord which
wriggles its way through the lush soundscape of Damn
– surely a contender for the single from the album.
If the music is multifarious in form it is however uniform
in mood. Evelyn’s output is often described as
‘medicinal soul music’ – some critics
have even gone so far as to suggest that Evelyn has
the ability to bottle sunshine. It’s easy to see
why. This album cries out for the summer, a beach, a
hammock... Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than
on the Rhodes-heavy California Dreaming-inspired
funk jam that is You Wish.
The second half of In A Space Outta Sound gives
way to Evelyn’s love of soul. At times he verges
too close to acid jazz territory - the positivity of
the lyrics can get a little bit much (the phrase “elevate
your soul” is repeated far too often for example).
Can too many positives make a negative?
Stuart Aitken
3.5/5 |
