Recording of the Week, Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future

2018’s Your Queen is a Reptile was something of a breakout record for Sons of Kemet, hugely popular and poignant as a refreshing jazz record blending modern British jazz with the sounds of Afrobeat, dub, reggae and even grime. Writing from the perspective of Black Britain, Your Queen is a Reptile dedicates each of its tracks to a variety of Black female figures, be them authors, political activists, or even Hutchings’ great-grandmother Ada Eastman on the opening track. On the fourth Sons of Kemet album, the quartet expand both on these socio-political themes and the band’s musical qualities; the very same things that made Your Queen Is a Reptile such an exhilarating listen are back in full force, but the band manage to surpass themselves with this new studio effort.

The band expands on their arrangements on tracks like ‘Never Forget the Source’ and ‘Envision Yourself Levitating’, with multireedist Shabaka Hutchings playing a warm bed of woodwind instruments set to a downbeat rhythm, while he takes up his old faithful bass clarinet for the solemn melody on ‘Think of Home’. Easily one of the most prominent trailblazers of the modern UK jazz scene, Hutchings has carved out quite a name for himself over the past decade. When he’s not heading Sons of Kemet - his longest-running project - he’s jamming over synthesisers in The Comet Is Coming, or delving into spiritual sounds with Shabaka and the Ancestors. We’ve been big fans of his output here at Presto in the past - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery, as well as last year’s We Are Sent Here By History from the ‘Ancestors’ project both made it onto our ‘Recording of the Week’ feature. Despite the different styles and aesthetics his three bands employ, the thing that’s always been consistent is the way Hutchings approaches the sax across each project. Hutchings’ style - skilled as he is - is often less concerned with technical prowess by way of fast solo passages, instead favouring a more raw and rhythmic approach. This comes into place brilliantly with his bandmate Theon Cross - another prolific figure of the London jazz crowd - who complements Hutchings’ arrangements with pounding bass from his tuba. Another staple of Sons of Kemet is its dual-drummer lineup; Tom Skinner and Edward Wakili-Hick (the latter of which replaces Seb Rochford from the previous record) propel the quartet through both energetic and downtempo tracks, making great use of their stereo setup with some intricate percussion and drumkit interplay.

It’s impossible to discuss Sons of Kemet’s work without mentioning the perspectives and social context the music draws from. The stirring opening track chronicles the wider struggles of Black Britons and Americans, especially in the face of last year’s Black Lives Matter movement. There’s even explicit reference made to the statue of Edward Colston - a merchant who traded slaves - being thrown into Bristol’s river during protests. The guest feature from poet Joshua Idehen also closes out the record, relaying both past and present issues with searing lyricism and delivery. Another welcome vocal feature comes from American poet/musician Moor Mother, who offers her signature raw performance over a powerful, driving beat that’s quintessentially ‘Kemet’. Hutchings, Cross, Skinner and Wakili-Hick’s latest recording is absolutely fearless, building on the themes laid out by their past work while continuing to push their sound forward, neither falling back on old ideas nor compromising on the identity they’ve spent the last decade building.