Foat has become a versatile mainstay in UK jazz through an acclaimed series of albums on Jazzman and Athens Of The North, moving from soul-jazz workouts to library music to cinematic, haunting compositions and pastoral acid folk. ‘Symphonie Pacifique’ goes expansive and widescreen, building a lush soundscape using choral textures, harp and tubular bells on the atmospheric ‘After The Storm’ alongside sensual groove-based tracks like the undulating ‘Anticipation’, the album title track and Groove Merchant-channelling ‘Nikinakinu’, all driven by Phil Achille on bass, Eric Young on congas and Moses Boyd’s crisp, flowing breakbeats. Other tracks include a moving tribute to KPM library legend Duncan Lamont on the reflective ‘Lament For Lamont’ and the languid, simmering ‘Island Life’.
The album is a truly international collaboration, recorded analogue and produced by Greg Foat at London’s Fish Factory studios with strings recorded in Edinburgh and choir in Gothenburg. The album was mixed by Mattias Glava at Kungsten Studios in Gothenburg. Cover artwork is based on a painting by early 20th Century Algerian / Parisian artist Henry Valensi.
The album is a truly international collaboration, recorded analogue and produced by Greg Foat at London’s Fish Factory studios with strings recorded in Edinburgh and choir in Gothenburg. The album was mixed by Mattias Glava at Kungsten Studios in Gothenburg. Cover artwork is based on a painting by early 20th Century Algerian / Parisian artist Henry Valensi.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Greg Foat has always had a firm place on the shop stereo, and 'Symphonie Pacifique' cements that likelihood with a swaying, filmic mash-up of syncopated hooks, frenetic percussion and effortless, jazzy cool. As perfectly redolent of the genre's past as it is it's future.TRACK LISTING
A1. Prelude
A2. Symphonie Pacifique
A3. Undulation
A4. Anticipation
A5. Mu
A6. Yonaguni
B1. Island Life
B2. Nikinakinu
B3. Man Vs. Machine
C1. Before The Storm
C2. After The Storm
C3. Meditation On A Pedal Steel
C4. Lament For Lamont
D1. Pointe-Vénus
D2. Mother’S Love
D3. Epilogue: Three Tenors