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Review

Moonlight Saving Time

Meeting At Night

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by Ian Mann

February 19, 2016

/ ALBUM

With its skilful blend of jazz, folk, poetic and pop elements “Meeting At Night” is an attractively varied album with an intelligent mix of original and outside material.

Moonlight Saving Time

“Meeting At Night”

(MSTCD002)

This self released recording represents the first full length album from the Bristol based quintet Moonlight Saving Time. Fronted by vocalist and lyricist Emily Wright the group includes some of the South West’s finest musicians in the shapes of bassist Will Harris, pianist Dale Hambridge, trumpeter Nick Malcolm and drummer Mark Whitlam. These busy, versatile performers also work with a variety of other Bristol bands including Michelson Morley, the Greg Cordez Quintet, the Kevin Figes Quartet and Malcolm’s own quartet.

“Meeting At Night” builds upon the promise exhibited by the band’s self titled début EP released in 2013. MST, as they shall hereafter be known, have made a lot of friends with their mix of original songs and imaginative arrangements of pop/rock tunes and jazz standards. They have appeared at the London, Marlborough, Brecon and Manchester jazz festivals and have consequently gained themselves something of a national reputation.

I was fortunate enough to enjoy a live appearance by the group at the 2014 Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in Abergavenny. Even then it was clear to see that the band had made rapid progress since the release of their début EP and the programme included several items that now appear on this new album.

Named after an obscure Blossom Dearie tune MST were initially influenced by the Flora Purim edition of Chick Corea’s Return To Forever. “Meeting At Night” sees a greater focus on the band’s own writing and arranging as they continue to develop an increasingly distinctive group sound. The new album is much more fully realised than the début EP, which now sounds almost like a preparatory sketch in comparison.

“Meeting At Night” takes its title from a poem by Robert Browning and the album also includes a setting of “Sea Fever” by John Masefield. The bulk of the programme is sourced from within the ranks of the band but there are also covers of songs written by Calvin Harris and Jamie Doe (aka The Magic Lantern).

The album commences with the song “Clouds”, written by Harris with lyrics by Denis Wright, Emily’s father. Whitlam’s hip hop inspired grooves help to give the music a contemporary edge as Wright’s voice is elegantly shadowed by Malcolm’s trumpet and Hambridge takes the instrumental honours as the featured soloist.

The group’s début EP was made by a six piece band and following the departure of guitarist Jon Hyde MST have chosen to augment their sound with the deployment of guest musicians Jason Yarde (alto sax) and Dan Moore (Hammond organ). Yarde plays on the title track, a startlingly original setting of Browning’s words by Wright and Harris. Wright shows a real talent for phrasing and also enters into wordless exchanges with Malcolm who subsequently emerges as the first featured soloist, sharing the spotlight with Yarde’s fiery and incisive alto. A brief free jazz episode is followed by an anthemic coda featuring Wright’s voice soaring above the insistent rhythms generated by piano, bass and drums.

“Trio” is a brief interlude written by Harris that features his bowed bass alongside Wright’s wordless vocal and Malcolm’s trumpet. The song “Silence Is Here”, written by Wright and Harris, emerges directly out of this led by Hambridge’s piano. With its poetic and bucolic lyrical imagery it’s an exquisitely beautiful song further enlivened by Malcolm’s inventive trumpet soloing.

The group’s setting of Masefield’s “Sea Fever” is a delight with Hambridge’s arrangement of John Ireland’s tune bringing a strong folk element to the music. Wright’s unaccompanied voice introduces the song with its famous opening line “I must go down to the sea again…”. It’s a duo performance with Hambridge, a highly skilled accompanist, complementing Wright superbly.

“Desire For Nothing Known” with music by Hambridge and words by Wright and Martin Wells combines a folk influence with a more obvious jazz feel. Hambridge is the featured soloist with a flowingly lyrical solo enhanced by Harris’ rich bass undertow, Wright’s wordless vocals and the patter of Whitlam’s brushed drums. Harris also features briefly as a soloist while Malcolm’s trumpet is a low key, whispering presence that is highly effective in this role before breaking away more forcefully towards the close of the piece, closely attended by Whitlam’s drums which also feature strongly in the tune’s closing stages. It all finishes rather abruptly, which is somewhat unsettling.

Malcolm’s “Views” begins by featuring his unaccompanied trumpet on an extended introduction. Harris’ melodic double bass playing is also featured extensively with sensitive support being provided by Hambridge’s economical piano chording, Whitlam’s intelligent brushed drum work and Wright’s ethereal wordless vocals. Yarde eventually emerges as the final featured soloist, his alto soaring in conjunction with Wright’s voice and a newly forceful rhythm section. This highly effective, essentially instrumental, piece is at various times reminiscent of Norma Winstone, Jeff Clyne’s Turning Point and, of course, Flora Purim and Return To Forever.   

The Calvin Harris song “I’m Not Alone” was performed at Abergavenny and represents an interesting and imaginative choice for the group. Will Harris’ beautiful, slowed down arrangement is highly effective and Wright invests the song with considerable emotion and dignity. Malcolm’s smoky, gauzy trumpet and Moore’s low key Hammond add to the after hours feel on a piece that is one of the album’s surprise highlights.

Jamie Doe is a Bristol based singer and songwriter who performs under the moniker The Magic Lantern. A genre straddling musician his songs have previously been covered by jazz vocalist Emilia Martensson. His “From My Window” is a beguiling song, beautifully interpreted by Wright with an element of discrete electronica helping to give the music an agreeably contemporary feel.

The album concludes with “Arthur’s Dance”, Wright’s dedication to her young nephew. An enchanting lullaby the piece features Moore’s Hammond and a joyous trumpet solo from the excellent Malcolm.

With its skilful blend of jazz, folk, poetic and pop elements “Meeting At Night” is an attractively varied album with an intelligent mix of original and outside material. Recorded in London the singing and playing is immaculate and the album shows MST carving out an increasingly individual niche for themselves. Having witnessed the group in action I can confirm that these songs are equally effective in the live environment. 

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