Seattle Jazz collective High Pulp are sharing “Kamishinjo” today, a cosmic new track featuring Jacob Mann on keyboards. Listen to it below.
“Kamishinjo”: https://youtu.be/0KSaR_-lArY
“Kamishinjo is a neighborhood is Osaka, Japan where Antoine [Martel, keyboardist] and myself spent a good amount of time in 2019,” explained High Pulp drummer Bobby Granfelt. “The song began with a drum groove based around a left-floot clave pattern. Those patterns have a natural tension and release to them, and we used the song as a way to explore that push/pull relationship as a whole. When we were writing the song, Antoine started messing around with his pitch wheel as a method of creating movement and I immediately was reminded of the frenetic energy of Kamishinjo Station.”
“Working with Jacob was a dream, he sent over a handful of solo takes on his Juno 106 and I was genuinely inspired by their lyricism and originality,” Granfelt then added. “The horn writing at the end of the tune is a nod to one of our biggest influences - David Axelrod."
“Kamishinjo” is featured on ‘Pursuit of Ends’, High Pulp’s debut ANTI- Records release which will come out April 15. The songs on the album balance meticulous composition with visceral spontaneity, and the performances are nothing short of virtuosic, fueled by raw, ecstatic horn runs ducking and weaving their way around thick bass lines and dizzying percussion.
While the Seattle-based collective is centered around a crew of six core members, they also make judicious use of a broad network of collaborators on the album, wrangling special guests like sax star Jaleel Shaw (Roy Haynes, Mingus Big Band), harpist Brandee Younger (Ravi Coltrane, The Roots), GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter Theo Coker, and the previously mentioned keyboardist Jacob Mann (Rufus Wainwright, Louis Cole) to help stretch the boundaries of their already-expansive sonic universe. The result is a lush, cinematic collection that’s as unpredictable as it is engrossing, an urgent, exhilarating instrumental album that manages to speak to the moment without uttering a single word.
“When you put us all together, our sound isn’t so much a fusion as it is a synthesis,” says Granfelt. “There’s a lot of different personalities coming from a lot of different places, and we use it all as fuel to create something that’s totally our own.”
Later this week High Pulp will begin a run of West coast tour dates that will reach Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles in more. Then in April the band will hit the road with Jared Mattson of the Mattson 2 for over month of shows in the Northeast and Midwest. All upcoming dates are listed below.
TOUR DATES
3/24 – Portland, OR – Star Theater
3/25 – Seattle, WA - Neumos
3/27 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Festival 2022
3/29 – Salt Lake City, UT – Quarters
4/1 – Vista, CA – Booze Brothers Brewing Co.
4/3 – Phoenix, AZ – Last Exit Live
4/5 – Los Angeles, CA – Gold Diggers Sound
4/15 – Chico, CA – Duffy’s Tavern
4/16 – Sacramento, CA – Starlet Room#
4/18 – Reno, NV – The Loving Cup#
4/19 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel#
4/20 – San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brew Rock#
4/22 – Albuquerque, NM – SixOSix Gallery#
4/23 – El Paso, TX – Love Buzz#
4/24 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger#
4/25 – Austin, TX – Mohawk#
4/26 – Ft. Worth, TX – Main at South Side#
4/28 – Kansas City, MO – miniBar#
4/30 – Norman, OK – Norman Music Festival#
5/3 – Chicago, IL – Schubas#
5/4 – Minneapolis, MN – Hook & Ladder#
5/5 – Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel#
5/7 – Cincinnati, OH – MOTR#
5/8 – Pittsburgh, PA – Government Center#
5/11 – Boston, MA – Middle East @ ZUZU#
5/12 – New York, NY – NUBLU#
5/15 – Washington DC – The Pocket#
5/16 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s#
5/17 – Lancaster, PA – American Bar & Grill#
5/19 – Atlanta, GA – 529 Bar#
5/20 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor#
5/21 – Nashville, TN – The Basement#
5/26 – New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa#
# - with Jared Mattson