Review Summary: About as good as the fruit that adorns the cover...
Jazz is awesome.
People who dig jazz always seem to enjoy more than one variety of the medium and there are a plethora of varieties from which to choose. The improvisational nature coupled with the general mood and sound of jazz makes slightly experimental and tasteful mash-ups an enticing endeavor.
food. is a poppy/progressive jazz outfit from Connecticut who’ve offered up their little wrinkle in this huge tapestry of jazz and while there is an underlying familiarity in this Pink Panther-esque sound the group has, it’s more than capable of inducing some extended head bobbing bouts.
With four songs coming in at a little over 20 minutes, “Pomology” (meaning the study of a certain type of fruit, hence the album cover) is a bit of a dense offering. As mentioned before though, and in spite of the long passages of instrumentation, the poppy aspect the album possesses keeps the songs from feeling long-winded. The songs themselves contain generous helpings of saxophone, the main driving force behind the EP. The crystal clear production makes every other instrument audible too even though they serve little more purpose then providing backup for the sax. What makes “Pomology” interesting are the ideas the group toys with. Each song has its own distinct sound and for the most part, they are executed quite well. Toying, as fun and kinky as it is, is as far as
food. goes with these ideas. Normally with songs of these lengths one would expect some shifting song dynamics and some nifty transitions from part to part and while “Pomology” isn’t devoid of this, things get dangerously close to derivative a couple times.
The vocals, though scarce, are present and unfortunately are the epitome of take it or leave it. At some points the vocalist doesn’t sound as though he’s even really trying to sing or write a decent verse (the opener is a prime example) while at others one can tell he put effort in but the actual sound of his voice clashes with the music too openly to be considered beneficial for the record. As far as the music goes,
food. shows they know their theory and have the chops to pull off some fun, catchy stuff. The hooks of ‘Teeter’ and ‘Peruvian’ are sure to get those neck muscles working and with a little tightening up, a whole record of pop/prog jazz from
food. won’t sound as strange as it felt typing it out.
