As part of Independent Venue Week 2019, Moles presents:
GET THE BLESSING
www.facebook.com/gettheblessing
““…they may well be the most original and exciting band on the British scene at the moment.” Jazzwise Magazine
Bassist Jim Barr once remarked that Get The Blessing were “total outsiders” and “the punk entry” when they won the 2008 BBC Jazz Award for Best Album with ‘All Is Yes’. Almost ten years later and five albums down the line, the same could still be said to hold true, albeit with a little more wisdom at their disposal.
Formed in 1999 to share a fascination with the improvisation and monophonic nature of Ornette Coleman’s earlier works, the line-up has remained the same with Portishead rhythm masters Jim Barr and Clive Deamer on bass and drums respectively, Pete Judge on trumpet and Jake McMurchie on saxophone. And all this despite other commitments for everyone, not least Deamer’s recruitment as Radiohead’s second live drummer in 2012. The band’s old friend and collaborator – and Portishead guitarist – Adrian Utley also makes the occasional guest appearance.
The Bristol-based four-piece can now boast a truly international fan base. Since the release of All Is Yes in February 2008, they’ve taken their musical vision round the world with successful tours and festival appearances in the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Dubai, Turkey, Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Serbia.
“GTB harness rock and jazz with uncompromising power” Time Out
Astronautilus is Get The Blessing’s fifth album (and third for Naim) and comes blazing out of Bristol chasing the tail of its predecessor, 2014’s Lope and Antilope. While Lope and Antilope saw the band dip their toe in mellower waters, Astronautilus was literally composed between crashing waves and deserted estuary sands, producing an album of pounding rhythms, spacious atmospheres and strongly-crafted melodies – plus, of course, the unpredictability and musical mischievousness that have made the band so exciting and successful.
Astronautilus has all the deep textures and open-sounding playing with electronics you would expect, but with a greater sense of structure and depth. On first listening it’s darker and subtler, but further listening reveals it to be an exciting and focused album, or as the band put it, “dark with a joyous soul.” With more adventurous improvisation and electronics coming into play, it seems a natural development and refinement of previous work. The mood of the improvisation has also coloured the more composed tunes, striking a perfect balance between the deliberate and the accidental.
Having enjoyed the process of taking themselves away from their normal environment to record the last album, Astronautilus was recorded while the band were holed up on a remote part of the Cornish coast, where the landscape and midnight beach rambles proved inspirational. It was on these walks that conversation turned to such matters as the stars and the sea, which in turn led to the titles – stars and fish, or puns on both.
The opener, ‘Phaenomena,’ is an improvised track, driven by Clive Deamer’s afro-beat-esque drumming, and is a particular favourite of the band as it’s so unlike anything they’ve done before. After this comes ‘Carapace,’ a beautifully arranged piece, incorporating vivid and exciting electronic improv, was recorded in one take, with no additions or overdubs. ‘Monkfish’ returns to early Blessing days, a riotous affair, simultaneously inspired by Thelonius Monk, a pair of Deamer’s shoes and of course, the fish. ‘Hayk’ refers to the Armenian name for the constellation of Orion the hunter, and comprises a menacing, disjointed, Miles-esque start, followed by a warm, reflective, harmonically rich and quasi-euphoric ending. ‘Cornish Native,’ named after the oyster, was the unexpected pearl in the grit of editing. Recorded on the first day, it somehow got forgotten, only to be triumphantly resurrected at the eleventh hour.
Astronautilus is dedicated to the memory of Ornette Coleman, who passed away in June this year and who was pivotal to the band’s formation in 1999. After nineenn years Get The Blessing can still lay claim to their original line up: Jake McMurchie sax and electronics; Pete Judge trumpet, flugel horn, piano and electronics; Clive Deamer drums and percussion and Jim Barr bass, electronics and organ. That they can still produce such creative and intelligent music – all balanced with wit and passion – as well as find time to work on other projects, is testament to the free spirit that they embody, not to mention their new cocktail, the Gin Garden.
+ TINY LEAVES
“Tiny Leaves is the moniker of Composer – Performer Joel Pike, his music has a delicate cinematic quality that brings about a quiet hope. The latest release and everything related can be found on http://www.tinyleaves.co.uk/ . Praise for his music includes:
“Stunning” – BBC 6Music – Lauren Laverne
“so heart-felt, so open, so accomplished” – Fluid Radio
“life affirming, a blessing” – acloserlisten
+ DJ Big Jeff
IWE Ambassador * live music local legend Big Jeff will be spin tunes throughout the night.
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→ Monday 28th January at Moles, Bath.
→ 14+ (Under 16s to be accompanied)
→ Doors: 7.pm / Tickets: from https://bit.ly/2QPmCSi
→ Includes FREE entry to Stereo Club Night till 3am.
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Venue
Bath BA1 2EN
UK