Deep End Shallow
Out Of Your Head, 2020
9/10
The keyboardist, vocalist and composer Curt Sydnor doesn’t seem to appear to be interested in anything mundane, as Deep End Shallow is about as unusual as you could be without being completely unhinged.
“Starewell” starts the album with an avant-garde mix of quirky keys alongside guitars in the indie-rock meets free jazz explosion, and “Fall Behind” continues the creative climate with a mesmerizing mix of percussion and keys in a psyche-rock influenced haze where processed vocals are in attendance.
In the middle, “Rus In Urbe” gets frantic yet calculated in its guitar fueled approach that’s as iconoclastic as it is charming, while “Them!” moves with a calmer pulse of groove filled and experimental playfulness. The gentle moment is the piano friendly “Fieldgaze Variations”, and “Well Of Stares” finishes out the listen with electronic funk stabs.
Sydnor is in fine company here, as members of Deerhoof, Mdou Moctar, Matisyahu and Alula are in attendance, and together they create one of the most atypical listening experiences of 2020, where psych-jazz and Afrobeat are also part of the inimitable formula.
Travels well with: The Nels Cline 4- Currents, Constellations; Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang- Build Music