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JagaWhat We Must Ninja Tune/Inertia Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined 'What We Must'. In fact, even having heard it, it is almost impossible to describe. To call Jaga a jazz band would be doing them a disservice - in fact, they could be called post-jazz (it is, of course, so easy just to whack a 'post' in front of anything these days). Using the freeform experimentation of their predecessors, Jaga have come up with an album sounding peculiarly electronic, yet immensely organic, melodic yet purely rhythmic, full of sound yet never crowded. This ten-piece Norwegian band can only be accurately compared to American counterparts Tortoise; however, although Tortoise have never failed to simply baffle me, Jaga have totally captured my soul. For a start, these tracks don't really sound improvised at all: All I Know Is Tonight has rhythmic breaks that could not be anything but immaculately rehearsed, Stardust Hotel has the most complex melodic structure of any song I've ever heard, and the sombre Swedenborgske Rom sounds almost classical in structure. So it must be that these tracks, although maybe born through improvisation, have now been painstakingly well-arranged just to steal our hearts. Never has a completely digital choir sounded so divinely inspired. Besides, I love the sound of a bass clarinet, and there's plenty of it on 'What We Must'. In many ways, this album reminds me of Miles Davis' 'Kind Of Blue' (although that could be a testament to my lack of depth of knowledge about jazz). 'Kind of Blue' also follows a purely melodic structure, and takes great leaps and bounds to capture the listener and never let go. (If you don't trust me, trust vociferous supporters the Mars Volta.) Although impossible to describe, 'What We Must' is absolutely one of the records of the year.  |
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