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Porpoise Corpus

Porpoise Corpus

F-IRE CD019

This eponymous debut album from the sextet Porpoise Corpus (their name comes from the fictional body of literature produced by the cetaceans in the Illuminatus! trilogy) perfectly captures their immediately appealing sound: leader/keyboard player Dave O'Brien's compositions unaffectedly draw as much on fusion and occasional bursts of heavy, abrasive rock as on the relatively straightforward jazz head-and-exposition approach, his keyboards and Spencer Brown's bass moving easily between acoustic and electric instruments.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Brato­ff (guitar) flickers and swoons through the more lyrical numbers and struts confidently through the up-tempo fare; saxophonists Tom Challenger (tenor) and Tom Ward (alto) play themes in harmony in a manner that sometimes recalls the 1980s London-based band B Shops for the Poor as well as contributing attractively blustering but thoughtful solos; and Guy Wood pushes the whole thing along with a superb display of robustly propulsive drumming.

The band's material (all by O'Brien) is basically divided between the softly noodling lyricism of 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' or 'Silence is Gold and Diamonds' and the tricksier garrulity of fusion, sparked either by comparatively simple riffs or more dramatic, complex heads, but whichever mode they're operating in, Porpoise Corpus display all the imaginative vibrancy and commitment that makes them such a compulsively listenable live act. Recommended.