This is a review. The author is responsible for the opinions in the text.
concert
Alpha Nebula
Stage: Nalen, Stockholm
Alfa Mist frontman Alfa Sekitoleko is perhaps the most humble, generous, albeit reserved bandleader I have ever seen on stage. For example, when he has to introduce his four fellow musicians. Normally something like this gets burnt down somewhat obediently towards the end, if it happens at all. Alfa Sekitoleko, on the other hand, gets started right away.
In fact, the presentations are the glue and form that holds the concert together. He gives each of them a long solo number in individual spotlights, in which each of them demonstrates their instrumental skills for many minutes. He himself behaves inconspicuously behind the piano with his cap pulled down and hardly mentions his name.
The thirty year old The composer and pianist is part of London’s young, hip jazz scene, where his background as a self-taught, sample-focused hip-hop producer makes him even more interesting. Now he’s on an extended European tour in support of his latest, more conceptual record, last fall’s “Roulettes,” which was described as a kind of dystopian sci-fi story about incarnation and the surveillance society.
Live, this topic remains just as cryptic, but the new songs at least create a strong, atmospheric mood. The phenomenal trumpeter Johnny “J Sphynx” Woodham plays with hypnotic echo and gives the completely instrumental songs voice and face. Drummer Jamie Houghton drives the rhythm with great aplomb. When the jazz group is at its most interesting, they approach a kind of evocative and coordinated post-rock with upbeat hip-hop beats in the background.
An impressively large proportion of musical skulls actually stop and dig until the end
Unfortunately, it happens a little too rarely. The pieces largely seem like long and highly technical transport routes, with overly complex rhythms, strange time signatures and general introverted nerdiness that, frankly, belongs more in the rehearsal rooms of a music college than on a stage in front of an audience. For all of us standing and listening, it becomes long-winded and boring.
Although it is not entirely true. An impressively large proportion of musical skulls actually stop and dig until the end. Then they clap so enthusiastically that there is an encore. What are they hearing that the rest of us are missing? Perhaps this is Alfa Mist’s greatest strength in the live format. That his introverted anonymity automatically makes those around him shine.
Read more concert reviews and all texts on the subject of music
