The Motet
Breathe
review = B

Just when you think you've got The Motet figured out, the next track on -Breathe- proves you wrong. "Belly," a sexy, sorta funky hip-bop number opens the album. "What's Mine Is George's," picks up the tempo but otherwise remains true to form. At least until a scratchy spoken word, ala Miles Davis, pipes up. From there things go willy nilly. "Osain," with its exotic, African sounding lead vocal and semi-chanted chorus, is an ambient, percussion sailboat drifting gently to a soft, rhythmic breeze. So is "Obatalia." "Sunju," is a poppish world beat tune. Cool cat, smooth jazz reappears with a whiskey-on-the-rocks-attitude in "Scram." So does existential, spoken word. "Ulysses' Falcon" is a playful, dreamy dance between the electric guitar and B-3 organ, with all sorts of -artsy-, weird sampled voices and audio textures floating through the soundscape. Playful turns goofy on "Freedom Jazz Dance," with an ironic mix of serious, Jaco-style bass gurgling, cowbell poppin', electric piano fusion, and a comic 'aww huhh, aww huhh,' voice loop. "Nachez," has an uptempo, bohemian vibe built around a Latin beat and slick jazz guitar chops. Passion rings out in, "Jiti," with a forceful Afro beat and swirling lead vocal, chorus interplay. And then from out of nowhere, -Breathe- ends with "Yogi's Day Out," a, shuffling, open road blues surprise that somehow works. Whew...