It’s not pretentious, intimidating or self-congratulatory, as can sometimes be the case, nor is it retro cool groovy funky non progressive lame funk hop, which is a trap fallen into all too often. No, this is great real life groove with a heavy folk bent, executed extremely well.
Moving In The Dark has attached itself to me since I stuck the CD in my machine. There’s something about this very English flavored Hip-Hop come folk outfit that is instantly likeable. The tunes are catchy and easily gettable, but proper listening reveals a depth of intelligence and honesty to the lyrical content that is hard not to like. It’s not pretentious, intimidating or self-congratulatory, as can sometimes be the case, nor is it retro cool groovy funky non progressive lame funk hop, which is a trap fallen into all too often. No, this is great real life groove with a heavy folk bent, executed extremely well.
The songs are little stories told from a personal viewpoint that touch on sadness, anger, love, social/political observation and a lot of other stuff besides. The songs strike a special personal chord with me, being that they feature heavily the place I live—Bristol, the same place Dizraeli hails from—and skateboarding, the latter being one of the principle loves of my life; the stories of broken bones and vert ramps are particularly poignant. I think there will be something everyone can relate to somewhere in this album though, even if only by dint of the honesty inherent in the content. We can all somehow detect when music is delivered from the heart I think, especially when it comes to words.
Dizraeli is (as the name might suggest) a poet and a wordsmith at his core. He won BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Slam competition in 2007, and then won the spirit of the fringe award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 for a play he wrote with Baba Brinkman entitled Rebel Cell. The Bristolian turned London resident has been working with his band The Small Gods for the last three years or so, purveying a curious mix of conscious Hip-Hop and folk. Not the currently trendy genre of folktronica, but actual folk flavored music played by a seven piece band. It’s really bloody good too. Made up of great musicians, The Small Gods have a knack of weaving subtle soundscapes, catchy hooks and heavy grooves. The album centers on Dizraeli’s lyrics, but the band are a big part of what makes the whole thing work so well.
This album is a beauty, straight onto my top five of the year. Go and check it out.
Moving In The Dark is available on ECC. [Release page]
