– THE QUIET RIOT –

Jazzheads will be familiar with Neil Cowley from his days fronting his Trio. Those with more popular-leaning tastes may know him for his work on albums by Zero 7, Adele and the Brand New Heavies.

Now, having announced a hiatus on Trio activity in 2018, Cowley’s been working on a string of more ambient/electronic-leaning compositions, the latest of which have been compiled with composer/producer/sound designer Ben Lukas Boysen (also known as HECQ).

Solitary Refinement is taken from a four-track EP, Grains and Motes – an introductory video for which is below.

On the above video, Boysen describes the duo’s music as “very, very nice compositions underlined by some electronics” which, though an entirely functional description of the sound, sells it a little short for my liking.

After all, what is important here is the mood of the piece and, while often this song’s constituent parts (piano line, 808-style drums, atmos) are put together in brooding, angsty ways (I’m looking at you, Trent Reznor) the vibe of Solitary Refinement is, well, far more… refined.

It means it’s a piece (and an EP) that slows the blood, that helps re-align focus and, sure, maybe just have a bloody nice nap to.

Grains and Motes is out now through Erased Tapes.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX

ULY: PAK IT IN
ARLO PARKS: SOPHIE
NICKI WELLS: MOOLADHARA
BROTHER’S TESTAMENT: KINGDOM

P.S. You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –