Hiromi’s Sonicwonder – ‘OUT THERE’

Joy seems in short supply at the moment. But one place you’re sure of finding it is on a Hiromi album, and the new goods news, a new one is on the way, out this Friday 4 April.

Every time I’ve seen this Japanese piano pocket-rocket play what has always struck me – along with the fantastic playing and genre-bending compositions – is the unabashed glee which shines out from Hiromi every time she’s at a keyboard. Each run, each crash chord, is greeted with a beaming smile and exuberant movement.

You can imagine that was the case in the studio, too. And when you’re as creative and influential as she is, why wouldn’t you want to show everybody how great that feels? She is, in that sense, the anti-Jarrett. Hiromi’s music over a twenty year-plus career has come in many forms: solo, duets, most famously her trio.

This new album – the all-caps ‘OUT THERE’ – is the sophomore output from her four-piece Sonicwonder band, comprising Hadrien Feraud on bass (one of my new favourite bass players), Gene Coyne on drums and Adam O’Farrill on trumpet and electronics.The press release talks about the “musical alchemy” that has defined Hiromi’s career, and it’s fare to say there’s little fool’s gold on ‘OUT THERE’. It’s the elemental real deal. On opener XYZ she reaches back to the start of her career, re-tooling an early composition and improving it with the addition of O’Farrill’s brassy tone on this 60’s Blue Note influenced track. When Hiromi slams her left hand down on the bass keys, your ears prick up and take notice.

Yes! Ramen! does a 180-degree twist: disco beats, a shamisen riff banjo-style, and an eighties-style keyboard riff that screams golden age of video games. This is a fun track but interspersed in it are some cracking solos, not least Feraud’s. It deserves the two exclamation marks.

It’s brakes on with Pendulum, a ballad with – unusually for a Hiromi album – a vocal contribution (from Michelle Willis) which adds an introspective sheen to the track, which is simple and sweet.

The album is built around ‘OUT THERE’, a suit of four tunes designed to be listened to in order (so Spotify listeners, watch out). 

It takes off literally with Takin’ Off, which has a gorgeously creamy synth hook that, matched with O’Farrill’s trumpet, soars to the skies. This is classic Hiromi stuff: unlimited complexity, mix of keys and piano, changes in rhythm and tone, playful and seriously listenable. 

Her playing on both keyboard and piano is faultless and boundless in its energy. 

Part two, Strollin’, has a late-night groove, Herbie Hancock meets George Duke, all jumpy keys and trumpets, with super-tight drumming from Coyne that keeps the listener on their toes until the song expands out.

Third up in the suite is Orion, which starts off sparingly with piano and electric bass talking to each other in staccato phrases before the tune transmutes into a showcase of the trumpeter’s art, underpinned by deliciously compelling comping from Hiromi.

The four-parter ends with chopped-up rhythms and a vintage prog-rock feel  on The Quest, starting with a seventies-era keyboard solo duetted with the trumpet that evolves into a jaunty theme that could accompany a hit NBC comedy series, before broadening out. 

Pendulum is a solo keyboard sketch that gives Hiromi the space to be herself and paint using a charming melody. A rare moment of calm.

The last track – Balloon Pop – is the lead single for the album and like all singles, it is heavy on hooks and elements to draw in the punters: you’ll find fantastic band togetherness, light-speed runs up and down the keyboard and multiple time signature shifts, wrapped in an “up” pop aesthetic but built on a foundation of Olympic-standard jazz fusion ensemble playing. 

The synth hook has a real ‘earworm’ quality (prepare to hum it on your way to work); Hiromi’s runs are electrifying and Feraud’s bass solo three minutes in has a tone as sweet and doughy as a mochi.

The contrast of light keyboard hook – bringing to mind mid-eighties Mezzoforte – and the dark meat of complex jazz harmonies made me play the track multiple times on first listen, there’s so much to pick out.

Indeed, after listening to the album twice through, I felt the sort of joy-filled fatigue that comes from knowing I’d just listened to – indeed, just been engulfed by – a dazzling album. Roll on Friday, and rejoice that we live in a time when Hiromi can illuminate our world.

from https://ukjazznews.com