Daniel Casimir returns with a massive tune out today! From the moment the strings are furiously bowed back and forth you get that feeling of something big about to happen on 'Safe, Pt. 1'. Casimir bounds in on the drop with the bass hitting as hard as the shuffle groove the swaggering Moses Boyd bursts in with.
The London based musician releases this single on Jazz re:freshed and is part of an upcoming album release from Casimir, his first full-length release since his project with long time collaborator and friend Tess Hirst in 2019 titled These Days. The album will be released later this year and features 16 musicians, a 50/50 split between female and male musicians.
With the album a celebration of Black British Culture and critique of the genres, labels and stereotypes which have traditionally been placed upon black musicians, 'Safe, Pt. 1' is inspired by David Owusu's book 'Safe' which outlines the experience of being black in Britain.
You can feel the pride and honour Casimir has in being a Black British man with how powerful this song is, the song completely absorbs all your senses from start to finish and the emotion felt in every note reflects Casimir's own experience beautifully.
Boyd's drums sound almost electronic with the fury and speed they're played at. The movements from Nubya Garcia on tenor sax and James Copus on trumpet are simply stunning with how they flow between their phrasings. The solo from Garcia is fierce and builds on the immense feeling from the song even more somehow; the sheer amount of intensity in her improvisation is unbelievable.
Casimir describes the song as resembling "a futuristic James Bond score" and the feeling of grandeur throughout is undeniable. His talent in orchestrating this song is brilliant and I'm itching to hear more from this album already. What an exciting album this will be.
Buy or stream Safe Pt 1 here:
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