Flowers In The Dark

Album review

Kofi Flexxx is a creative principle, not a person. Led by Shabaka Hutchings with drummer Jas Kayser, double bassist Daisy George, pianist Ross Harris, and pianist Alex Hawkins, Kofi Flexxx melds vanguard and post-bop jazz, modes, and polyrhythms from Africa, Indo-Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America, as well as folk traditions, EDM, and more.
Flowers in the Dark comprises nine tracks spread over two LPS, and no two are alike. Opener "Apothecary" (feat. New York rapper Billy Woods) emerges with organic instrumentation -- flutes, upright bass, hand drums, and piano -- before Woods' hard-hitting, ominous lyric transforms the tune into murky, paranoid, jazz-hop. By contrast, "It Was All a Dream" is introduced by carnivalesque tom-toms, hand drums, and a melodic bassline. In the second chorus, trumpet, saxophone, and flutes flood the zone and the percussion attack intensifies, becoming an unshakeable groove. Poet Anthony Joseph joins Kofi Flexxx on "By Now (Accused of Magic)." The clattering, trancelike rhythm track joins Caribbean and ceremonial beats below the poet, whose stanzas equally probe the possibilities of experiencing love, destruction, betrayal, and spiritual fulfillment. Confucius MC appears on the title track. Its martial snares, kick drums, and hand percussion meet the rapper's lyric weapons above monolithic backdrops of reverbed piano, bass, reeds, brass, and spacious production. "Show Me" (feat. Euclid) employs dread: "We drift in the patient streams/'Til we lose our rage/Countless times we start the book/But we lose our page....Are these the last days?/Who's to say/At least that's what they said on the news today/It's the things that we love/Powering the heart/Still flowers in the dark ...." It's followed by the labyrinthine post-bop instrumental "Babylon Dun Topple." South-Asian vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Ganavya Doraiswamy lends her ethereal voice to "Increase Awareness" framed by ceremonial drumming, classical minimalism, tightly layered keyboards, reeds, and winds as she improvises in raga style. "Aim" is introduced by Hawkins' minor-key piano progression atop limpid percussion, bass clarinet, flute, saxophone, and electronics that flow in to highlight an electric guitar vamp and thundering bata drums. South African vocalist Siyabonga Mthembu (the Brother Moves On) chants and sings under the fray before musical urgency pulls him out front, where piano and bass clarinet wrap him in safety and layered drums clatter incessantly. Closing instrumental "Fire" is a jazz dirge. Rippling piano from Hawkins introduces lilting flutes above a bevy of saxophones, muted snares, echo-laden tom-toms, and a spectral electric guitar playing a six-chord vamp with varying dynamics. Track by track, Flowers in the Dark is very strong. Its savvy bandleader places the instrumentalists in service of the group, songs, and singers, creating a secure, open space for articulation and improvisation. As a whole, the album is projective. Its musicians play as if they don't assume the urgency of the future is already present, but reflect the attitude that it is already late. They work together to articulate and disseminate its possibilities.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo