There has always been a very clear divide between the approach and feel of the bedroom musician and that of a proper band. Either a result of being forced to mind the volume or utilizing intricate layering to make up for the lack of band members, there’s a certain intimacy about bedroom recordings. Thus it’s with some curiosity that Gist Is, the debut album self-released by Leeds band Adult Jazz, sounds like the work of one man toiling away at home by his lonesome.
That’s not a slight to the abilities or execution of the band—Harry Burgess (vocals, guitar, drums), Tom Howe (keyboards, effects, sampler), Tim Slater (keyboard, trombone), and Steven Wells (drums, guitar, bass)—but there’s a meticulous and quiet concentration to most of the proceedings that seems out of sorts with traditional band interaction. Gist Is rides a slow build into a very specific interspace. A cross between Dirty Projectors, Bon Iver and the minimalist moments of The XX, the record’s aim seems to be drawing the listener in rather than hitting them with a grand bombastic statement. Indeed, opening track “Hum,” as its title would indicate, sets up the precedent for what’s to come.
There are very few straight ahead moments on Gist Is but neither is Adult Jazz self-consciously clever. There’s a gently shifting swirl of ideas, with vocals disintegrating into wordless scats, drums swinging into jazz time signatures, and acoustic and electronic elements holding hands like children on a field trip. There are some slight Afropop elements, some Britpop, some Dead Can Dance, and some things that seem cribbed from a Peter Gabriel score. It’s the type of record where the songs are bursting with ideas, but they don’t sound overstuffed, thus letting the elements breathe. It’s an achievement that seems illogical when you think about it, but highlights what a different playing field these guys are on.
The best way to describe Gist Is is to liken it to a fabric pattern that reveals itself as being more intricate the closer you get to it. There’s so much that just shouldn’t work, but nevertheless effortlessly does. It’s the sound of four men with one voice and a pretty delightful one at that.
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