Pianist Taz Modi has worked with a range of artists. From Detroit Funk legend, Dennis Coffey, to DJ Shadow. He is also a member of Matthew Halsall`s Gondwana Orchestra. Reclaimed Goods, however, marks his solo debut. The opener, Libra, find his keys subjected to digital delay. On the title track, he sends accompanying cellos spinning, dizzy. Manipulates crackles and glitches into Spring rain. Taking the modern Classical of Max Richter, the tapping rhythms of Poppy Ackroyd, and fusing them, Murcof-like, with sub-bass boom. Counterpoint constructs Ethical Tourist. Pizzicato repetitions marching to a broken Trance tattoo. Recalling Erik Wollo`s recently reissued Native Dance. Or Torn Hawk`s love letter to Berlin, Union & Return. Orchestral, cinematically strung, like Phil France`s The Swimmer. The album`s at its most emotional, most passionate, most rousing, on Every Saint Has A Past. Dulcimer-like in the high register. Capturing Techno stabs, Rave`s rush in the low. Built while the UK fiddles and Brexit burns the music, thematically, is concerned with what it means to be British in 2019. What it means to be a decent human being as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the Earth hurtles towards climatic catastrophe. Citing Alan Clarke’s Penda’s Fen, George Monbiot’s Feral, and Graham Swift’s Waterland, as influences. Blackflowers is a reference to seminal BBC drama, Edge Of Darkness. Where the planet gets ready to “reclaim” herself, following Man’s final, fatal, environmental error. The green hope played out like a Penguin Cafe composition. Crystalline is just that.
You can order a copy of Taz Modi`s Reclaimed Goods directly here. You can catch Taz Modi live on June 9th at the Cross the Tracks Festival, in South London`s Brockwell Park.
Reference Links
Edge Of Darkness (check around 2:15)
Ban Ban Ton Ton 