Adult Jazz – ‘So Sorry So Slow’ album review: An overbaked record, ten years in the making
THE SKINNY: Jazz, more so than most genres, is a style of music in which artists have a great sense of freedom. The same can be said for the free-flowing Leeds outfit Adult Jazz, who have returned with So Sorry So Slow, their first full-length release in a decade. The phrase ‘slow and steady wins the race’ might spring to mind, but, in all honesty, the amount of time taken to construct the record might have been to its detriment.
The first thing that strikes you upon listening to So Sorry So Slow, is its originality in sound. It’s not quite jazz, it’s not quite rock, and – despite its inherent experimentation – it doesn’t sound very similar to the growing body of experimental music. Adult Jazz should certainly be commended for this implacable singularity but, unfortunately, that is where the praise stops. Understandably, for an album that was a decade in the making, So Sorry So Slow feels incredibly overdeveloped.
There is a famous saying that goes, “Art is never finished, only abandoned,” and while that might look good on a poster flogged in the Tate gift shop, there surely has to be a point where an artist goes ‘no, that’s enough now, I’m not going to add an extra vocal track to this song’. That is where Adult Jazz falls down on this album; the music itself is fairly enjoyable, imbued with a soothing cinematic quality, but it all feels overbaked to the point of ruin. One of the tracks, ‘I Was Surprised’, is seven-and-a-half minutes long, yet it offers absolutely nothing worthy of note. The track sounds virtually indistinguishable from the other 11 tracks that make up the album.
Ultimately, So Sorry So Slow feels far too sanitised to be truly gripping. Not only is it endlessly overproduced and overdeveloped, but the vocal performances on the album – delivered by Harry Burgess – feel frustratingly inoffensive. For a group that have previously prided themselves on putting across complex emotions and heartbreaking honesty, this record sounds akin to the soundtrack of a Disney film, and Burgess’ vocals to a theatre-school kid. Sure, the performances delivered by Adult Jazz are undeniably skilled and proficient, but there is a distinct lack of passion and emotion coming across to the listener, which makes it very difficult to connect with So Sorry So Slow.
For fans of: Wearing shoes without socks and viewing yourself as morally superior to everybody else at the juice bar.
A concluding comment from Gérard Courant: “Come on lads, even I thought this project dragged on for far too long, cut it down a bit.”
So Sorry So Slow track-by-track:
Release Date: April 26th | Producer: Adult Jazz and Fabian Prynn | Label: Spare Thought
‘Bleat Melisma’: An infectious tribal beat is soon curtailed by the eruption of incredibly grating vocals and uninspired lyricism. [1.5/5]
‘Suffer One’: The only thing worth noting in this song is the laughably bad autotune towards the end of the song, which makes it feel horribly dated. [2/5]
‘y-rod’: One of the more enjoyable tracks from the album, as there are no cringeworthy vocals to distract from the clear musical talent of the band. [3.5/5]
‘No Relief’: Has the atmosphere of somebody freestyling while their cat walks up and down a piano in the background – interesting, but ultimately uninspired. [2/5]
‘Plenary’: Five tracks in and this song provides the first instance of Burgess managing to convey some emotional weight within his vocal performance. As a result, this gentle track is among the greatest efforts across the record. [3.5/5]
‘Marquee’: A gentle, if fairly forgettable, easy-listening track. The piano on ‘Marquee’ is particularly enjoyable, but you are left with a sense of wanting something more from the song. [3/5]
‘Dusk Song’: This track is awash with a dark, brooding atmosphere, as though giving the soundtrack to a particularly tense part of a film. Excellent as background music, but not so good to focus on itself. [3.5/5]
‘Earth of Worms’: For a band with jazz in the name, Adult Jazz’s take on the genre is increasingly frustrating. This song feels as though it was produced by somebody whose only two cultural references were John Coltrane records and The X-Factor. [2.5/5]
‘No Sentry’: Introduced by what sounds to be a melodica, this track marks a return to horribly dated autotune vocals. Don’t get me wrong, autotune has its place in music, but it is certainly not here. [2/5]
‘Bend’: There is nothing offered here that has not already been explored extensively upon the rest of the tracklisting thus far. Each track is quite similar in sound, so by this point in the album, it has become pretty boring. [2/5]
‘I Was Surprised’: This is the longest song on the album and, my god, you really notice it. Realistically, this is one of the strongest efforts across the album, but it is certainly in danger of dragging on for far too long. [3/5]
‘Windfarm’: Category is: songs that were rejected from the soundtrack of a musical nobody went to see. [1.5/5]
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