Antiphon

Antiphon is pianist/producer/songwriter Alfa Mist’s second album, an intimate, atmospheric and introspective contemporary jazz outing that contains flavours of fusion, modal jazz and hip hop. Opener Keep On is a subtly glowing soul-jazz jam, its peaks and troughs of key and sax solos held down by an endlessly inventive funky drum pattern. Errors is slower and gentler, full of flowing improvisation and melodic invention, while bassist Kaya Thomas-Dyke delivers a pretty, wandering melody over Breathe‘s cycling chords, muted trumpet and pitter-patter drums.

There’s a mood of melancholy and isolation over this album with only fleeting appearances from major chords and little in the way of musical sweetening; there’s beauty and warmth here but no sentimentality. It’s tasteful, classy even, but there’s a slight sombreness to the mood, a hint of darkness hanging over much of Antiphon that along with regular flare-ups of scorching musical expression neatly prevent things from ever becoming beige.