Gist is... what?

So, this review is, perhaps the last about an album from 2014. And this time it's dedicated to yet another band that's emerged on the horizon only this year and is not as well-known as the bands I had written about at the beginning of the year, those of you who know the band in question and the album this review is about, already got it from the title alone. But for everyone else I'll clarify, that the gist is that this article is about a band from Leeds, England, called Adult Jazz and, more particularly, their debut album "Gist Is". It was released this August, on the band's own label Spare Thought. Adult Jazz, in contrast, came into the scene their own way, no, they just hopped into it like a frog! A fully grown up frog. They didn't need more food or water. They just emerged like it should have happened, well, perhaps, because Adult Jazz was formed long ago by a few good friends from Guilford studying in Leeds, namely Harry Burgess, Tom Howe, Tim Slater and Steven Wells. But they were brewing their strange kind of music deep beneath the surface, until their first single, a double A-side single "Springful"/"Am Gone" surfaced in January 2014. Soon, "Springful" received video treatment and what a brilliant one! It was then when I found out about this band (at least I wasn't late to the party as I am used to be...), and what got me was that I read Adult Jazz had similarities with These New Puritans (a band, whose dedicated fan I am), and are making complex music. That's why I gave them a chance, even if a slim one. When I opened the video for "Springful", it had a Hermann Hesse quote below it, oh, another point for this band in my eyes, and I like interesting videos, even if not too much, but it is the kind of videos I can spend my time watching, occasionally; so what I've heard was a bit of a shock, especially, when lead singer Harry Burgess, almost a capella, yelled in my ears: "A foolish bathe, the foolish ba-athe". Well, "jazz", they say, – I thought then. But later it got interesting; yet, when I'd return to that song, I would always have to leap over that first second. But, well, I will explain this later on. What else is interesting? Also, Harry Burgess, the lead singer, is a teacher's assistant in a school, well, hardly a cool profession these days. All in all, alright, I give them a chance, a new chance. Let us find out now, what the gist is...

So, the first track is "Hum". And it is a nearly acoustic piece with Burgess singing over some pleasant sounds reminiscent of post rock, say, Sigur Rós; the song slowly moves forward, jumping over strange voices and noises, finally some drums rattle in, between calm and discordant, "Was I born a roach? The belly-crawling grub?" – asks the singer as the strongest part of this composition comes. A full-blown percussive blast hits right afterwards. Then a less dramatic episode follows, with Burgess saying "Lay loose/It's all I ever do/Forever..." And then the trombone ending that I always enjoy a lot.

The second song, “Am Gone”  is one that's been premiered way before the rest, so I've listened to it a few times beforehand and, moreover, it received a rather strange and kind of ironically sad video. It starts with the vocalist teasing out the guitar chords, one by one. “I was always a runner, I was always a runner you know, I was always a runner, became a forgiver and now I have nothing to show” – he chants. Then Burgess again tries to be a guitar. Well, or maybe the other way around? The reverb and production is awesome. Feels deep and alive. The next part is one of the best. Festive guitars. Nice bass. A bit of a pause. The trombone enters the mix. High and low, all together. The ending has this wonderful brass part, that is something I keep reckoning in my mind again, and again, and again. The lyrics, and the band explicitly explained, are about something that is the main lyrical theme of the record overall- ascetism against liveliness. The character feels he is wrong, dreams of a lunch up above, but sadly enough, he sees no clues, that it is ever going to take place... To me, it is a very Nietzscheian topic, most explicitly dealt with in “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, where in a similarly poetic manner, Nietzsche opposes his former ideal, Arthur Schopenhauer, for one, because of the latter’s worship of resignation. Nietzsche's main idea, as I understand it, is that those who had put all the meaning into the otherworldly life we will once get, in fact demeaned this world we face as the sole reality of our life. This theme is there in “Am Gone”, hence the tittle – resignation, “Be ascetic. Be a bean” – Burgess says. But, it is this, that “can sugar a life”. This is the strangest thing. Protect yourself from the words (“Thick gloves for everything”) but end up barely existing as a person (“Non-attachment”)…

The third track is yet another song that I had plenty of time to get acquainted with – "Springful". As I'd already mentioned, the opening seconds was my first encounter with Adult Jazz, and a rough one, honestly. But the seemingly endless apreggiation and sad tone of the vocals gave me hope something's going in my direction. And then it got even cooler – the guitar turned upside down and started sparkling backwards and on top of it another guitar climbed. “So let us joy up and be springful, this provision is more than a handful” – ordered Harry Burgess and the atmosphere turned, perhaps because of the video, a bit Indian with rapid guitar strums all over the plays cutting your ears. And then again the deeper part comes back, with Burgess no longer settling down with a low, sad voice, but challenging his vocals to the maximum. Then again comes what in ordinary songs would be called a chorus. And it all explodes and bursts of sound deep beneath glisten in the sun, like the waters of the sea in the afternoon.

The forth track is called "Donne Tongue" and is completely different from the track that's just ended. It starts with Burgess stretching his voice in all directions, seemingly without any problem. The song is more rock, more jazz even, bouncing off clouds. Playful and springful, hmm, for a lack of a better word. But then comes this awesome part, with Burgess saying something like "Dendonedoo" and the background sounds at first reminded me of the seaside with sea-gulls screaming and later of dogs, but when I tried to listen carefully, it appeared to be some backwards loop. Then time for a louder part with trombone and angry guitar. "Gist is exactly enough" – chants Burgess. The ending again brings a moment of calm.

The fifth song is "Pigeon Skulls". Yet another example of songwriting: acoustic guitar, lots of hard to categorize percussion. Something here makes me think of folk, but perhaps my perception is a bit off here... The part before the chorus is another deep, dreamlike, somewhat sad breeze. It has a somewhat of a chorus with acoustic guitars. But the use of samples and weird sounds makes it something far more interesting, maybe even confusing, nice to see, how one sound, used appropriately, can alter the atmosphere complitely. The end is cathartic, like some really weird burst of sensations you received all at once and feel hard to deal with.  

The sixth track is the biggest song on the album, well, if not in terms of its quality and beauty, at least, it can be called so in terms of its length, it is titled "Spook". Personally, I find it very hard to listen. But let's go step by step. It starts like a decent Sigur Rós song. But here comes Burgess to warmly mumble “Spook at the door, spoke with a whisper, supersoul I caught in a window”. Few bits of music are still present, it has to have its time to build up, but later we hear not just guitars and drums, but a trombone as well, while the initial delight of the singing has suddenly stopped as if Burgess realised something what he's been thinking of for ages. “But I do, and I have, and I will, and I write these songs to trick God, and I do not take it lightly, oh I do not take it lightly” – he says and it goes into a rather depressive state, but then he once again wakes up, repeats the aforementioned part and it all comes to live for the second time. It is an atmosphere of anxious waiting, with softly arpeggiated guitars, the atmosphere of expectation and pleasant desire for something to happen. “Enough hush, would you coat up? In an hour” he chants, the atmosphere is growing more and more intense, “You tone deaf, you awkward clown, just wait!” – he continues in bouts of euphoria, and with the words  “Northern soul and Southern hand, just wait!” the whole atmosphere becomes ecstatic. Then come the chants. And the best part is when he sings "But did you ask for it?" and guitars, that were projecting the way before, move out of the picture, bringing a delightful yet weird switch. And then the air gets wider, and percussion rolls forwards and backwards in all directions possible in this situation. A truly ecstatic end! Perhaps the epitome of “Gist Is” is here.

The next song proves that Adult Jazz haven't yet used all of their toys; the seventh track, "Idiot Mantra" makes previous efforts even look conventional, kind of. It is all percussion samples around, bubbling everywhere, hitting at you from unforeseen places and strange cut-off yelps from the vocalist. Those sound both awkward and confusing. Strikes of guitar in different time... Yet then it gets a bit clearer, he is saying “Been humming that idiot mantra so long”. The song balances on the end of a canyon, and it seems to be able to fall apart in a gust, be there some stronger wind. Sometimes Burgess sounds a bit like Thom Yorke in here and the song itself sounds very World. The singer sings as emotional backwards as he does forwards, ha. Perhaps there was a need for something like this after the grandeur of "Spook"... 

The eight track, that's called "Be A Girl", in the contrary, shows a more conventional approach with acoustic guitars getting back into the mix, and, what? It is only 2 something minutes long! It starts the same melancholic feeling most songs did, but then drums lead us to a strange part. Took some time for Harry to return from sample world though. Guitar (this time electric) sounds awesome.  

The last, ninth song on the album is "Bonedigger". And, yes, it is about a dog. It again employs more acoustic guitars, but gives some electronic flavours as well. The soul-piercing chorus or something similar to it is sung somewhere in the backyard, apparently. Then comes the monotonous mantra of “Bonedigger, bonedigger, bonedigger, bonedigger”. A very warm and gentle song. It seems so minimal, lo-fi, folk-y, yet gives so much emotion. A lot of silences in between. Guitar plays with the trombone. “I feast alone, I feast alone, I feast alone...” – proclaims Burgess and it sounds as if it was some sort of wonderful story and a smile doesn't come off of my face. The end is even more nodding to folk and calming, repetitive and captivating. The very end is one single strum of the guitar. And now it's all over.

So, what is the gist in "Gist Is"? First of all, it's an album that is really hard to get into, especially if one's not used to experimental and strange, and free music. I recall how I faced some difficulties listening to bands like Autechre, These New Puritans ("Field Of Reeds" in particular), say, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band or Kiran Leonard – it feels like something wrong is going on. Like music is falling apart, there is too much silence in between, too much noise, too little sense. And you feel as if you tasted some weird fruit you have never heard of before – everyone's assuring you it is the best you can get, but you feel slightly disappointed. But, when you get into this kind of music, it opens up and lets you in, like some old garden. You see that silence is music too, that noises make sense, that strange words make sense, that things can be the other way. So, to get the gist, you need to give this album some time, after all, these lads have been working on it for ages, so how come you expect to understand it in those mere 51 minutes? You have to give it a chance and maybe you will feel a bit disappointed at first, when vocals distract you, music seems like a collection of random sounds, lyrics seem inaudible and incomprehensible, but come on, this is not "McDonald's", you need to take your time. At first, for example, "Spook" didn't make sense to me in the slightest, but now I can understand where this journey is heading to and feel that I like this kind of journey. It's a pleasant breeze in this land of over-used indie. Too many bands do their thing without a second thought. At least, some just cannot play that way, and can sing like no one else, narrate strange stories in this brotherly and friendly way that makes you listen with open ears and an open mind. Playful and springful. Not dusty and boring. Fresh and always awake, this is what Adult Jazz are, Basically, this is one of the best albums of the year, "Spook", "Springful" and "Bonedigger" being highlights, the album itself being restless and diverse, always surprising and pulling you out of boredom. I think, "Gist Is" is a good album that perhaps lyrically can be compared to the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche. What a coincidence that I had just read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and it feels, like, hmm, this album really speaks in the same language. It has a loose plot and some moving stories, a lot of pauses and boldly put, proclaims freedom from being trapped by authority. So, what to say thus spoke Harry Burgess and thus spoke and sung and played Adult Jazz. Thankfully, they are surely not "adult" enough to be boring.

Adult Jazz:

https://www.facebook.com/adultjazz
https://soundcloud.com/adultjazz
http://adultjazz.tumblr.com/
http://adultjazz.bandcamp.com/

You can buy "Gist Is" via Bandcamp:

http://adultjazz.bandcamp.com/

Watch the videos for "Springful" and "Am Gone":