Variables

"Genre-traversing London musician Alfa Mist opens Variables, his fifth album, with "Foreward," a rousing tune that sounds influenced by progressive big band, hard bop, and fusion all at once. The attention-grabbing horn figures at the front are followed with blazing solos backed by cool keyboards and complex, constantly mutating beats, finally leading back to a return of the opening horn section. From there, the album continues seamlessly melding several styles, though like the artist's last few releases, it seems more centered around jazz than more R&B-leaning early efforts ... The arrangements and musicianship are consistently top-notch throughout, and the mood maintains a balance between reflection and optimism, making for one of Alfa Mist's most accomplished and enjoyable works to date".

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"Variables is a collection of warm, subtle and often delicately beautiful jazz and hip-hop. It's also largely instrumental: Mist's vocals only appear on two songs - Borderline and the trippy, cello-adorned 4th Feb (Stay Awake). Elsewhere, Kaya Thomas-Dyke brings honeyed tones to the densely textured R&B of Aged Eyes, while South African folk singer Bongeziwe Mabandla leads the exquisite Apho ... It's a shame we don't hear more of Mist's MC'ing: his lyrics are evocative, funny and cleverly laconic. Yet (...) he avoids being pigeonholed, establishing himself as a genre-transcending talent ... Jazz (...) is a constant: fairly traditional and brassy on opener Foreword, cosmic and grungy on the title track, and accompanied by bright, chiming post-punk guitar and a comically grunting bassline on the squealing closer BC. It all hits just the right note between accessible and experimental: idiosyncratic and intricate yet straightforwardly enjoyable, Variables is unwavering in its brilliance".

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"Genre-traversing London musician Alfa Mist opens Variables, his fifth album, with "Foreward," a rousing tune that sounds influenced by progressive big band, hard bop, and fusion all at once. The attention-grabbing horn figures at the front are followed with blazing solos backed by cool keyboards and complex, constantly mutating beats, finally leading back to a return of the opening horn section. From there, the album continues seamlessly melding several styles, though like the artist's last few releases, it seems more centered around jazz than more R&B-leaning early efforts ... The arrangements and musicianship are consistently top-notch throughout, and the mood maintains a balance between reflection and optimism, making for one of Alfa Mist's most accomplished and enjoyable works to date".

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"Variables is a collection of warm, subtle and often delicately beautiful jazz and hip-hop. It's also largely instrumental: Mist's vocals only appear on two songs - Borderline and the trippy, cello-adorned 4th Feb (Stay Awake). Elsewhere, Kaya Thomas-Dyke brings honeyed tones to the densely textured R&B of Aged Eyes, while South African folk singer Bongeziwe Mabandla leads the exquisite Apho ... It's a shame we don't hear more of Mist's MC'ing: his lyrics are evocative, funny and cleverly laconic. Yet (...) he avoids being pigeonholed, establishing himself as a genre-transcending talent ... Jazz (...) is a constant: fairly traditional and brassy on opener Foreword, cosmic and grungy on the title track, and accompanied by bright, chiming post-punk guitar and a comically grunting bassline on the squealing closer BC. It all hits just the right note between accessible and experimental: idiosyncratic and intricate yet straightforwardly enjoyable, Variables is unwavering in its brilliance".

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"This East Ender's precise fifth outing takes in cool vocal turns from bassist Kaya Thomas-Dyke and South African folk singer Bongeziwe Mabandla. Longer instrumentals "The Gist" and the ensemble-led title track finesse Mist's introspective yet propulsive style: endlessly looping piano melodies and lilting Rhodes married to intuitive boom-bap rhythms. The cumulative effect is lulling and hypnotic".

"Brit-jazz pianist in a melodic mood ... He's helped by his guests ... But Alfa himself (who raps on a couple of tracks) can also develop a compelling melodic idea, mostly weaving his Fender Rhodes improvisations with the excellent, edgy guitarist Jamie Leeming on the complicated time signatures of "Cycle" and on the epic, horn-heavy "The Gist"".

"This East Ender's precise fifth outing takes in cool vocal turns from bassist Kaya Thomas-Dyke and South African folk singer Bongeziwe Mabandla. Longer instrumentals "The Gist" and the ensemble-led title track finesse Mist's introspective yet propulsive style: endlessly looping piano melodies and lilting Rhodes married to intuitive boom-bap rhythms. The cumulative effect is lulling and hypnotic".

"Brit-jazz pianist in a melodic mood ... He's helped by his guests ... But Alfa himself (who raps on a couple of tracks) can also develop a compelling melodic idea, mostly weaving his Fender Rhodes improvisations with the excellent, edgy guitarist Jamie Leeming on the complicated time signatures of "Cycle" and on the epic, horn-heavy "The Gist"".