A smoothed out, catchy little downtempo bobber from a cool late-winter night in The Vault.  Makaya bounces on a flammed rimshot, Abrams jumps in quickly with some nice bass chords, Justefan colors the progression with his singing vibraphone harmonies, and Marquis tops it all off with a gorgeous trumpet melody and solo verse.

Recorded on March 5th, 2014 by Dave Vettraino.  Personnel: Makaya McCraven - drums, Joshua Abrams - bass, Justin Thomas - vibraphone, Marquis Hill - trumpet.

Steppe Smoothe

Over the last year And Is Phi has continued to fuel us with perfectly selected reworks and collaborations born from her incredible debut album Double Pink. 

Now we finally have the collection as an EP with one or two additional treats. 

Beginning with a stunning rework of Double Pink by harpist and producer Marysia Osu, the ethereal magic immediately sets the emotional landscape. Marysia was a part of the quartet that improvised and recorded the original piece, so it's a special treat to get her solo perspective on the music, a significant departure from the debut album opener. 

A new, original piece, composed with long-time collaborator, Hector Plimmer follows and maintains the deep atmospherics. As the EP progresses we're treated to broken beats from Footshooter, bass led bumpiness from Wonky Logic, brooding rhythms from D'Vo and another new collaboration with Hector Plimmer. 

Double Pink (Marysia Osu Remix)

godspeed

dark empath

I walk on a frozen path
Over me there’s a purple sky
And the moon is shining bright
Don’t know what else can calm my mind
There’s a lot of snow on the trees
The river is slowly flowing
There’s a cover of ice that floats on it
My hand start to freeze
Because of the cold breeze
The path lead me to a frozen land
I walk slow
My body sinks into the snow
I will die in this land of cold


frozen land

Vernal Pools

When The Expansions self released their first single in 2013, the laid-back jazz funk of Lavender, it quickly gained strong support from soul and rare-groove aficionados including Kenny Dope, Dom Servini, Patrick Forge and Andy Smith. A run of shows followed and before long, when someone was asking if there was a soul-jazz band around to play with, “The Expansions” was the answer. 

Although this popularity meant a hiatus in releasing music, the band have been constantly busy, playing around Europe with legendary British-Ghanaian soul singer, Andrew Ashong and the exceptional, upcoming talent Connie Constance. 

There has also been a breakout project from drummer Jonny Drop - the album Sub Plot gained massive support and love from BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne. While keys-man Dave Koor has been busy playing shows with Gilles Peterson favourite Hector Plimmer, Shaun Escoffery, and Ego Ella May, improvising with Yussef Dayes (Yussef Kamaal) and Nubya Garcia, releasing music as Deoke and collaborating with label-mate Scrimshire on their Modified Man exploration. 

But always, The Expansions has remained a central focus and the true home of these four jazz and soul lovers, with occasional trips out to the country to form ideas and practice new music for the eventual album. 

Murmuration, recorded over three days at Big Noise in Southend, is constructed of single takes, with minimal overdubs, as the band attempt to capture the feeling and energy they create live. 

Debut single Breakthrough introduced the insanely catchy but deeply soulful blend of synths and groove, but here on the album that is explored to the fullest with longer breakdowns and more expansive, experimental solos. Pocket 5 displays the, possibly unexpected, influences of broken beat and almost combative rhythm playing – particularly in the complex guitar and keys breakdown where Koor and O’Keefe layer conflicting time signatures and battle to ride it out to the heavy drum return. 

Cannonball brings warm mellowness that delicately evolves through beats, touching on bossas alongside their fundamental hip-hop sensibilities. But even here there is a raucous zenith before the band sublimely recede into the silence of the a-side ending. 

Colossal album highlight Ivory Mountain is truly an epic. Evoking moments of 4Hero, there is a lightness of groove in the first half of this soulful exploration. But at the halfway point, all restraint is let go as a live string section joins the four quarters of the band for three glorious minutes of soulful disco. Evoking sounds of Quincy Jones, George Benson and Johnny Hammond, all the way through to a beautifully cacophonous finale. 

Dragonfly undoubtedly reflects on the work of Herbie Hancock and is the most direct throwback to the band’s earlier work, which is a welcome marker of how far they have come. A quintessential jazz funker. 

The album closes with the thoughtful and introverted shuffle of Miles Away. In the final eight minutes of Murmuration, The Expansions allow space and time to take precedence, with once-more-restrained peaks and developments. It becomes clear though, that the band cannot resist one last explosive finale, as they rise with screeching synths, strings and dubs for a perfect race to the finish line. 

You can hear the influences of Idris Muhammad, Grover Washington, even parallels with South London peers Yussef Kamaal and Ruby Rushton. But The Expansions have tirelessly worked to create a sound of their own and are very proud, along with label Albert’s Favourites, to finally share it.

Murmuration

Miles Away

Khruangbin - Mr White (Thallus Remix)

Track taken from the album 'Gallery Love' out in March 2019 on Apollo Records.
-
Written & Conjured by Oso Leone
Recorded at Casa Cosmos, Mallorca 2015-2017.
Produced by Joy Marin.
Mixed by Joy Marin.
Mix engineer, Antoni Noguera.
Mastered by Hay Zeelen.

2018 Apollo Records.
All rights reserved.

Double Pink (Marysia Osu Remix)

Albert's Favourites

Related tracks