Ebi Soda - frank dean and andrew

A Closer Listen

We were first drawn to frank dean and andrew by the fantastic art of Ez Goomi; as it turns out, all of Ebi Soda‘s covers are colorful and fun, a perfect reflection of the Brighton sextet.  Then there was the title of early single “when pluto was a planet and everything was cool,” which joins track titles by Max Cooper and GoGo Penguin as our favorites of the year.  And then of course the most important part, the music.

Listening to that single ~the synth beginning, the howling Halloween sound, the keening calls, the deep bass, IDM drums and trip-hop horns, we started to think of Ebi Soda as one kind of band, when actually they are many.  This particular piece, drawing on everything from early film scores to post-rock, is one of our favorites, an accessible, branching-out point. But these selections are so wide afield that it would be difficult to say the self-proclaimed “jazz disruptors” have a signature sound, save perhaps for the trombone, on full display in the title track, a lonely piece that honors the art: “sitting alone in flats, suspended in quiet isolation.”

But let’s go back to the beginning of this new phase, as the sextet recorded in a rural farmhouse and unveiled “bamboo” back in March, a teaser track that is now the album opener.  This lovely, understated piece shimmers and glows, exuding a laid-back vibe.  For many, this was the album’s entry point, and again, only the tip of a cove of icebergs.  The curve balls start arriving slowly in subsequent tracks: a brass solo in “horticulturalist’s nightmare (birds)” giving way to a melodic ending; the classically jazzy “toucan,” slow and soothing.  But then the needle lands on “red in tokyo,” featuring Chinese-Vietnamese-British rapper Jianbo.  It’s a safe bet to say that nobody saw this coming; and yet, due to the album’s earlier twists, it works.  The delivery is so strong that one hopes Frank, Dean and Andrew will emerge from their flats to see what’s going on below.

Ebi Soda draws the strings together in the 11:33 closer, “insectoid creatures are infesting the land,” extending a groovy template for about the length of a single before adding those insectoid noises and breaking everything down.  The drums fall silent while waves of drone wash over the land. Have the humans lost?  Will music now fall solely to the earth’s new masters?  The bass declares otherwise, leading the other instruments out of the morass.  By the end, peace is restored in the universe.  (Richard Allen)