Seattle-based Jazz collective High Pulp have released a new single entitled ‘Kamishinjo’ today. Featuring keyboard wizard Jacob Mann, the cosmic sounding track is the third song to be issued from their new album, ‘Pursuit Of Ends’, which is out on 15th April.
Kamishinjo is a neighbourhood in Osaka, Japan where Antoine [Martel, keyboardist] and myself spent a good amount of time in 2019. The song began with a drum groove based around a left-foot clave pattern. Those patterns have a natural tension and release to them and we used the song as a way to explore that push/pull relationship as a whole. When we were writing it, Antoine started messing around with his pitch wheel as a method of creating movement and I was immediately reminded of the frenetic energy of Kamishinjo Station. ~ Bobby Granfelt
As for teaming up with Mann, Granfelt continues:
Working with Jacob was a dream. He sent over a handful of solo takes on his Juno 106 and I was genuinely inspired by their lyricism and originality. The horn writing at the end of the tune is also a nod to David Axelrod, who is one of our biggest influences.
‘Pursuit of Ends’ is the second album by High Pulp but their first for ANTI- Records. Drawing on punk rock, shoegaze, hip-hop and electronic music, the band’s brand of jazz is both vintage and futuristic, hinting at times to everything from Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to Aphex Twin and My Bloody Valentine. Its contents balance meticulous composition with visceral spontaneity, while the performances of the group members are nothing short of virtuosic, fuelled by raw, ecstatic horn runs ducking and weaving their way around thick bass lines and dizzying percussion.
While High Pulp is centred around a crew of six core members, the group also make judicious use of a broad network of collaborators – including guest turns from the likes of sax star Jaleel Shaw (Roy Haynes, Mingus Big Band), harpist Brandee Younger (Ravi Coltrane, The Roots), GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter Theo Coker and keyboardist Jacob Mann (Rufus Wainwright, Louis Cole) – to help stretch the boundaries of their already expansive sonic universe. The result is a lush, cinematic collection as unpredictable as it is engrossing, an urgent, exhilarating instrumental album that manages to speak to the moment without uttering a single word.
When you put us all together, our sound isn’t so much a fusion as it is a synthesis. There are a lot of different personalities coming from a lot of different places, and we use it all as fuel to create something that’s totally our own. ~ Bobby Granfelt