Short Reviews [Amanda Chaudhary - 2024 - "January Suborbital Denomination"]

I was kindly sent this album by Jerry King, who guests on one of the tracks, and ever since I started playing it I have been trying to work out how to describe it and now here I am writing the review and I don't think I am quite there yet. Yes, there’s jazz, funk, a Seventies vibe here, Eighties electronic there, some old-school mixed with very modern, but it ends up with part of me wanting to say "experimental" while another part thinks the most apt description might just be “weird”. Apparently, the title was taken from an episode of the original series of Mission Impossible where it was a codeword, and I am sure Leonard Nimoy would have struggled with describing what is a fascinating release. Amanda provides keyboards, synthesizers, electronics, and assorted Instruments, and she has pulled together a group of musicians to come in for just one track or a few, all coming in for a specific purpose. I have already mentioned Jerry, who is involved in many projects and bands, and while I am not going to go through the whole list, I must mention Sami Stevens who does a wonderful Karen Carpenter-style vocal on four of the songs. One of those is "Rambutan", and I really want to be scathing about it given the way it repeats the same phrase many times, but it is strangely compelling. In fact, this is a truism about the whole album as there are songs like "Kislev" where the listener is taken back to the Seventies with dated keyboards, lush vocals, stunning bass and loads of horns which are just a delight. However, this is an album will not be to everyone's taste, and a big part of that is the way the material is incredibly varied with some songs feeling like they have no relationship with anything else. It is also an album which can take a while to get inside for the very same reason, and it is only with repeated plays that one starts to understand the layering and complexity which is throughout. I really wasn't sure when I first played this, but it has definitely grown on me and I can only wonder what her other material is like, as it is an unusual approach and one which is interesting for those who are prepared to take the time.