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Partisans

By Proxy

Babel BDV 2983

Despite the fact that they've been together, with an unchanged line-up, for well over a decade now, Partisans have made only four albums, generally recording material that has been thoroughly 'road-tested' at venues such as the Vortex.

Such careful quality-control has paid rich dividends on this, their first album since 2005's Max, the band's ease and familiarity with the compositions it contains immediately obvious in the bristling vitality and exuberance with which they tackle everything from guitarist Phil Robson's (late-1960s) electric-Miles-inspired opener, 'Advance' to saxophonist Julian Siegel's more overtly 'jazz'-based rumbustious, swaggering bustles.

Such glib categorisations, indeed, are rendered supremely irrelevant by the sheer power and mutual responsiveness on display throughout this compulsively playable album; Robson and Siegel's writing has been so comprehensively assimilated by the band that it's easy to forget, once the swirling drums of Gene Calderazzo and the solidly assertive bass of Thad Kelly nail down the various rhythms and textures from which the pieces spring, just how rich and complex they are.

Music drawing on so many apparently disparate sources, from bop to rock, funk and electronica, can often feel contrived; Partisans' indifference to such arbitrary musical divisions is clearly a consequence of their lifelong immersion in and discernible enthusiasm for everything from early jazz and swing (there's a fascinating visit to Ellington's 'Prelude to a Kiss' here) to post-Hendrix rock and all points between, so their clear priority as a band is simply(!) to infuse whatever they're playing with all the vitality and sheer gutsiness they can muster between them, rather than self-consciously touching a variety of musical bases.

For sheer power and excitement, there are few soloists to match either Robson (who conjures an extraordinary variety of sounds and textures from his guitar throughout) or Siegel (ditto, whether he's playing blustering tenor, keening soprano or deliciously treacly bass clarinet), and whether they're addressing their own varied compositions or Wayne Krantz's haunting, startlingly original 'Partisans 1', the quartet display a degree of infectious, robust but freewheeling commitment that makes this album one of the year's highlights so far.