The second outing for Edinburgh-based guitarist and composer David Series‘ band Meerkat Parade is an accomplished collection. The quartet of Series, Huw Rees on keyboards, James Lindsay on bass and Max Popp on drums are joined by saxophonist Martin Kershaw on four tracks, which naturally adds a further dimension.
The quartet demonstrate their skills throughout, with Rees and Lindsay both playing some excellent solos, and Popp proves both sensitive and forceful.
It’s Series’ compositions which give them the basis on which to perform. Disturbed Nature has some lovely tunes. Let Go has a medium paced shuffle that let’s the musicians stretch out a bit – Lindsay sounds particularly fine. Open Up, another medium paced tune, features a solo by Series which gently glides over some piano lines from Rees which could out of Bach; Rees’ own solo treads a delicate path through the tune.
The title track is somewhat faster, and lives up to its name: there is something a bit disturbed in it, and with Kershaw’s help it takes on an Ornette-like edge.
Too Much, the penultimate number,is another fast piece, though it isn’t too much at all. Kershaw’s solo builds up speed until he’s flying along; then Series takes over, slowing down the pace a little before Rees joins the fray and the two bounce ideas off each other.
The album closes with Oceans and Skies, a slow, gentle number, as if to let us wind down after what had gone before.
Patrick Hadfield lives in Edinburgh, occasionally takes photographs, and sometimes blogs at On the Beat. Twitter: @patrickhadfield.
LINK: Meerkat Parade’s first album reviewed in early 2018 Categories: CD reviews
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