The London-based crossover group Kinkajous are back, unveiling their second LP Being Waves. Like their highly regarded 2019 debut record Hidden Lines, their latest offering sees the group returning to the Nottingham-based label Running Circle.
Melting jazz influences with electronic sounds and orchestral emblems, Kinkajous are led by drummer/producer Benoît Parmentier and saxophonist/clarinettist Adrien Cau, with Italian-born keys player Maria Chiara Argirò, Jack Doherty (synths) with Andres Castellanos on bass making up the rest of the group.
Having released the singles 'Convolution' and 'Still (Drifts)' earlier this year, we have the exclusive premiere of their next single 'It Blooms / Then Nothing'.
Listening to 'It Blooms / Then Nothing', we're immediately met with a chorus of fluttering brass paired with a dominant drum beat before lush cinematic strings rush over you. Adrien Cau's saxophone gently pulses in and out, whilst the synths and keys join in to accentuate the overlapping texture. Cau's sax begins to rise, bloom and grow in prominence, becoming the centrepiece of the song, acting as a guiding force within a turbulent scene.
Aptly reflecting the title of the track, the second half of the single sees this complex, swelling texture fall, with wonky, distorted synths and brass reigniting this sense of confusion with the loss of our lighthouse-like saxophone. The fluttering brass sounds return, creating a feeling of familiarity as we're reintroduced to the sounds we were met with at the start of our journey.
Reflecting on the track, the group has said the song was "written at a time of agitation and sleepless nights. This track became the embodiment of what we were trying to achieve while working on this record, the juxtaposition of different states of being, different realities."
Reminiscent of Floating Points, Portico or Bonobo, Kinkajous are placing themselves alongside their contemporaries who are not restrained by a single genre or box. Instead, they simply absorb all forms to create beautiful transcendent music.
Kinkajous 'Being Waves' will be released via Running Circle on 17 September 2021.
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