The New Fuse Box – The Wakem/Nielson Project (LGW/Rhythmethod) CD Review

October 9, 2014

This third album by Auckland-based jazz group The New Fuse Box is a quiet gem. It’s easy to fling this more introspective jazz into category like ‘easy listening’ or ‘TV theme music’, when in fact, the more deeply you listen to it, the more you hear, and the more intricate you realise it is.
Primarily acoustic, The Wakem/Nielson Project is a generous, 15-song album of pianist Lindsay Wakem’s gorgeous compositions, on which saxophonist Chris Nielson gets the lion’s share of instrumental action.
If I have a problem with the disc, it’s my aversion to a saxophones, or rather, to a particular sound saxophonists make, and it’s the sax that carries leads most of these tracks. [I need to point out that it’s my problem, not theirs, and you, the listener, may enjoy the very tonalities that grate on my ears.]
It’s not called The Wakem/Nielson Project for nothing: although Wakem wrote the tunes, Nielson played the aforementioned sax parts, as well as handling other horn duties, drum programming on one track, and he produced, mixed and mastered the whole shebang. Speaking of mixing, I couldn’t help noticing that throughout, the piano sounds like it’s coming from across the room, while the sax is blowing right into the microphone, making for a slight imbalance. I wanted to hear the piano more loudly, with more detail.
The album survives this minor instrumental imbalance, however. These are sophisticated compositions with improvised elements, rather than the free-for-all some associate with jazz. They’re tightly structured, sensitively arranged, carefully sculptured over their five-to-seven minute evolutions, and have a dignified poise that one hears too rarely in jazz of any denomination.
There’s no attempt to incorporate dance music, hip-hop, electronics or guest vocalists, and for that I am grateful. Instead, after the sixth song, the playful Latin-tinged ‘Bossa Tossa’, the album winds down a few gears as it progresses to an almost ECM-label jazz-orchestral finale, and a sense of sublime stillness. GARY STEEL
Sound = 3 stars
Music = 4 stars

Avatar photo

Steel has been penning his pungent prose for 40 years for publications too numerous to mention, most of them consigned to the annals of history. He is Witchdoctor's Editor-In-Chief/Music and Film Editor. He has strong opinions and remains unrepentant. Steel's full bio can be found here

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Give a little to support Witchdoctor's quest to save high quality independent journalism. It's easy and painless! Just donate $5 or $10 to our PressPatron account by clicking on the button below.

Authors

WIn a Wiim Ultra Network Music Streamer with Witchdoctor.co.nz
Panasonic Fire TV Be Mesmerised with next gen AI TV
Advance Paris - Designed with French flair. Amplifiers, Streamers, CD players and more www.pqimports.co.nz
Previous Story

Simon Comber – The Right To Talk To Strangers (Carpathian) CD Review

Next Story

Fink – Perfect Darkness (Ninja Tune/Border) CD REVIEW

Latest from Music

Let there be drums!

Six diverse percussion compositions performed by virtuosic musician Justin DeHart challenge common notions about the most primal of instruments.
Go toTop