Sean Trane After the phenomenally successful (artistic-wise) Heart Is A Lotus album, Garrick gave it another shot at vocals-as-instrument experiment with the more military-minded HSB album (with the uniforms plastered on the cover and a supposedly funny liner note to explain it), but ultimately failed to match the predecessor’s near-perfection. With a reduced line-up - Carr and Phillip are out, but Lowther is in with his violin and trumpet, and only one bassist - compared to Lotus, Garrick also made some strange artistic choice that actually backfire to the fans he might have garnered with his previous effort. Indeed the silly WWII concept of the album imposed both the visual aspect, but also a more traditional jazz soundscape, at the detriment of the more modern side of the Lotus album.

Opening on the lengthy title track, the album is off to a smooth start, almost-standard-y, but it’s only sleeping waters only waiting to awake, because the track is deceptively simple as Garrick imposes some tricky chords changes to everyone from behind his piano. Norma’s vocals are rather more conventional than the previous album, but still interesting. An almost a capella Norma(l) vocal opens Sweet And (S)Low, but we’re again in too standard territory, which is, once more, not that much my Earl Grey cup. The 9-mins+ Epiphany (co-written by bassist Green) is again fairly traditional-sounding on the surface, but the more complex construction and piano chords are underlying, waiting to pounce on you just around the bend; while Norma is soaring high above and Lowther’s violin searing just below, the track ends much more energetic than it started.

On the flipside, Opal Fires sees Garrick’s harpsichord resurfacing (from previous albums), where Themen’s sax goes slightly awry (read dissonant), and Norma a bit conservative. The very same harpsichord pops up again in the pleasant uplifting instrumental and brassy Retribution. The quieter instrumental Wishbone track features plenty of bass work, complimenting Garrick’s excellent piano. Blue Poppies is almost a medieval or baroque piece, with the harpsichord and Norma’s semi-Tudor-ian chant, but the track builds on that base to come-out as a full-blown jazz-piece and return to that Tudor-like piece. The closing Limbo Child is a very brassy affair that ends in a piano-led finish.

This HSB album obviously doesn’t reach its predecessor’s kneecap, but it’s only the second of Garrick’s trilogy (not counting the up-coming Cold Mountain release as a trio) with that more or less same line-up as Tropo will be released the following year. OK, so it’s rather more conservative than Lotus (and lacking its sheer brilliance), but this doesn’t mean that it (HSB) is not worthy of your attention.