Floating Circles Quartet: Humble Travellers
Author: Nick Hasted
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Jonny Wickham |
Label: |
self-released |
Magazine Review Date: |
November/2020 |
Media Format: |
CD |
RecordDate: |
date not stated |
Aidan Pearson is a Tomorrow's Warriors and Guildhall graduate, and Floating Circles Quartet are the vehicle of this rare contemporary clarinettist-bandleader. Opener ‘Brockley‘n’Peas’ indicates the laid-back, suburban South London vibe, despite optimistic claims of Sons of Kemet's fiercer influence. Calling this spiritual jazz in even the loosest sense is too much, but a sense of balanced contentment prevails. Johanna Burnheart's violin contributes to the folk-like, Celtic sway of ‘Wading Through the Mist’, which ascends from a dawn shimmer of cymbals. ‘Beyond the Mountains of Aria’ is also pastoral and pacific as its summery melody undulates, and Pearson offers climactic, sinuous trills. Pearson and Burnheart entwine in a sort of squaredance in ‘Caravan Curtains’, Hurley's guitar adding to a purposefully unified sound. By the closing ‘Galactic Pedalboat Rescue Trip’, though, the polite pleasantries verge on the soporific. The sunny mood could stand rising to blissful ecstasy, or else sinking for a while into the shadows.
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