Two weeks ago, over 1300 bands settled down in New York City for the CMJ Music Marathon, including the Leeds indie pop band “Adult Jazz”. This quartet’s debut album, “Gist Is”, is a sophisticated and sensual mélange of songs that ramble and blossom in beautiful, unexpected ways. They made quite a splash at CMJ, landing on radio presenter Bob Boilen’s list of his top-10-discoveries from the 2014-CMJ Festival. The band’s frontman Harry Burgess kept a diary of his adventures at CMJ Adult Jazz travels through New York via stops at Stonewall, the Schomburg Center in Harlem and the High Line.
Here’s a band with a truly unique sound.The guitar playing is mostly undistorted and spare: There are punctuating moments of trombone and keyboards with delicate sometimes high, always soft vocals. I didn’t walk away remembering a single melody and that’s usually not a positive thing for me, but I loved living in this sound. It’s fresh and calculated, rhythmic but not dancey. I don’t know where this band is headed but I’m going to follow them with interest and get to see them as often as possible.If you’re not spinning their fantastic debut album “Gist” which is regularly on the turntable, you’re missing on one of the finest treasures of 2014. The British art-rockers made their U.S. debut at CMJ, stopping in for a few select showcases. With a band like Adult Jazz, you need a small intimate venue with a hushed crowd that will help you soak in all the quiet spaces and stop-start harmonies that Adult Jazz create. they played early on in the day at End Of The road festival without one of their band members and still sounded fresh and mesmerising.
The Fat Angel Sings 