Incognito - Bees + Things + Flowers

Don’t let the label on this one scare you; this isn’t an exercise in New Age pedagogy or the latest musical epistle from pianistic somnambulist David Lanz. Still, it’s probably a surprise to see an album like this one covered in Bagatellen’s pages; chalk it up to the vagaries of record service, I suppose. Spinning this disc, I was reminded of the recent debate in these pages regarding the relative importance of context in record reviews. My exposure to the band Incognito was next to nil going in, though I gather they’ve been around as a collective for quite a while. In this age of one-click information, superficial context is ridiculously easy to come by. But rather than study up on Incognito’s history, I thought I would approach their music from as tabula rasa a perspective as possible.

A listening menu made up mostly of any one genre can readily result in a jaundiced pair of ears. In my case, the overdosing agent is jazz. Incognito evinces some jazz elements in approach, but they’re largely of the urban contemporary sort so popular on most corporate funded radio stations. A better comparison point is the neo-Soul of artist’s like Maxwell and Alicia Keys. The arrangements are tight and polished, mixing a wide, sometimes orchestral, palette of strings, rhythm and vocals. The strains of electric piano and plump electric bass give many tunes a relaxed retro lounge vibe. In addition to a small cache of originals, Ringleader Jean-Paul Maunick also weaves in a perceptive selection of AM-radio covers ranging from “Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City” to America’s “Tin Man”. The supple interpretations of these pop staples retain the familiar trappings of their origins while blending at times beautifully with the band aesthetic.

Proving just how circumstantial a listening experience can be, the recurring referent to my ears is a now little remembered band called The Young Disciples, particularly on the positive vibes of Roy Ayers’ “Always There” that move to from balladry to a funky beats-fueled finale. Fellow fusion purveyor Ronnie Laws also receives props through the band’s slick, but far from facile interpretation of “Everybody Loves Sunshine.” Several tracks like bongos and strings buttressed “Still a Friend of Mine” and the soporific “Crave” try to get by with too little meat on the bones, but there’s plenty here that works, thanks particularly to the bevy of bonafide soul-bred vocalists. I likely will not be rushing out to procure any of Incognito’s voluminous back catalog, but as a primer on the band’s current sound, this does the trick.

~ Derek Taylor