Taken from the solo piano On My Ones to be released on 28 February all the songs were written and performed by Alfa Mist recording at London's Fieldgate Studio.
It is approaching a year since Alfa Mist's last album Structuralism was released, the pianist emerging in 2017 with Antiphon from a grime and hip-hop influenced background. Dilla and The Roots but also Miles, Monk and Avishai Cohen are among his inspirations.
The Londoner's most serious foray into jazz for sure this is more an ep than a full CD-length album in terms of length and is to be issued on 10-inch vinyl as well as via downloads. Other tracks are 'High Risk' (4:40 in length), 'Sorry' (3:07); 'L4' (2:19); 'Newham Village' (3:11); 'Amigo' (4:27).
'Withered' begins mournfully and then starts to shoot more optimistically allowing Alfa's right hand to draw out a far sunnier melody than might have hitherto been expected. The pervasive mood then settles into a poppy, quasi-romantic motif, Mist's left-hand keeping steady time before the layering begins in earnest. However, there is no real modulation and limited harmonic movement and yet this is more a performance built on strong themes that makes subtle shifts in mood. A secondary theme develops later that intertwines intuitively with the first and the shape of the composition has a satisfying logic to it.
There is a sense that a big improvisation is coming (it never does) but that is not Alfa's style at least on this piece and 'Withered' is more about decorating the main motific ideas than running the changes. That strategy is accomplished very well indeed, the style settling more into a Robert Glasper-like space in terms of the strength of the balladic effect achieved. My feeling is that this definitely seems like a more mature sound than every before. I am certainly looking forward to hearing the rest of the album. Let's hope some of the rest of the tracks go deeper harmonically and there is room for more improvisation. SG
On Sekito. Alfa Mist UK tour dates: Saturday 29 February, The Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool; Sunday 1 March, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Tuesday 3 March EartH, London; Wednesday 4 March EartH, London; Thursday 5 March SWX, Bristol; Friday 6 March Brudenell Social Club, Leeds; Saturday 7 March SWG3 Glasgow.
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