Here’s a hot take for you: Adult Jazz are the single most underrated band in the United Kingdom today.
Come at me bro.
Pugnacious or not, in sheer terms of the quality of their craft to popularity and acclaim, it’s a statement that is hard to dispute.
A favourite of every single person who wrote for Crack in the Road, their debut -2014’s Gist Is – was four years in the making. Combining staggeringly skillful musicianship and a tight group dynamic, it stood as one of the most mature debut albums of recent memory, a quality that extended to the band’s spellbinding live sets. Yet it arrived to minimal fanfare, and was only granted a little more attention in the year end roundups.
Not ones for the limelight, they’ve laid low until today, dropping new single Eggshell. Masking Harry’s standout vocals with electronic effects is a bold change to make, but it is a decision that sits well alongside the jittery electronic backing. Perhaps somewhat more understandable, though, given its accompanying album – May 20th’s Earrings Off! – will arrive on Tri Angle Records (Forest Swords, Mssngno, Haxan Cloak).
Echoes of Limbo Panto were abound throughout their debut (and not just because they both found their feet as bands in Leeds) and the fuller, rich sound of Eggshell has a similar attention-grabbing effect on first listen as Hooting and Howling did.
This is an album to watch in 2016.