Mike Allin
Ten years since their last LP and well worth the wait! Brilliantly blending styles to give us a real musical trip. As soon as I heard this I had to make it my LP of the week on my show and also one of my LP's of the year!
Favorite track: Put It Out (feat. ESKA).
High quality, Limited Edition - Collector's Item: 180 gram, 12" 2x Gatefold LP (4 sides of music - A, B, C, D) - comes with download code containing the digital album in multiple formats + liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre and A3 insert-poster complete with full album lyrics
Includes unlimited streaming of Analects
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
edition of 500
Purchasable with gift card
$39USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
High quality, 6 panel digifile with a velvety soft-touch laminate finish and 12-page booklet complete with song lyrics and liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre
Includes unlimited streaming of Analects
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
Purchasable with gift card
$14USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Comes with album artwork booklet PDF + album cover photo as a jpg
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For the true Brotherly fans: Limited Edition, Numbered and Signed (50) CD + LP
CD: High quality, 6 panel digifile with a velvety soft-touch laminate finish and 12-page booklet complete with song lyrics and liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre
LP: High quality, Limited Edition - Collector's Item: 180 gram, 12" 2x Gatefold LP (4 sides of music - A, B, C, D) Electric Blue/White Vinyl - comes with download code containing the digital album in multiple formats + liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre and A3 insert-poster complete with full album lyrics
Includes unlimited streaming of Analects
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Anna Stubbs - vocals
Rob Mullarkey - beats, bass, guitars, rhodes, synths, vocals, percussion
Ty - vocals
Eska Mtungwasi - vocals
Donny McCaslin - tenor sax
Kaidi Tatham - clav, synths, flute
Jason Rebello - piano
Eddie Stevens - moog
Simon Colam - rhodes
Finn Peters - flute
Gareth Lockrane - flute
Jan Ozveren - guitar
Ben Jones - guitar
Dave Okumu - guitar
Femi Temowo - guitar
Martyn Kaine - drums, percussion, MPC
Drew Horley - beats, additional synths
Ben Bryant - percussion
Volker Straeter - percussion
Phil Peskett - synths
Sharlene Hector - backing vocals
Natalie Williams - backing vocals
Tawiah - backing vocals
Rakhi Singh - violin
Jae Yoo - violin
Max Baillie - viola
Lucy Railton - cello
ALBUM CREDITS
Original Mixing for the album One Sweet Life - Robin Mullarkey and Toni Economides
Original Mastering for the album One Sweet Life - Chris Potter at Alchemy
Original Mixing for the album Find First Light - Robin Mullarkey and Dilip Harris Original Mastering for the album Find First Light - Nilesh Patel at The Exchange
Mixing on ‘Raindown’, ‘DTs’, ‘World In A World’ & ‘The Code’ (2020 Edition) - Robin Mullarkey
Mastering on ‘Raindown’, ‘DTs’, ‘World In A World’ & ‘The Code’ (2020 Edition) - Nick Watson at Fluid Mastering
Additional compilation/LP Mastering by Tyler McDiarmid, NYC
Produced by Brotherly
Executive Producer for Analects - Michael Janisch
Photography - Rob Blackham (taken at Oli Epp Studio, London)
Stylist - Rebecca Hadfield
Graphic Design by Dave Bush
Liner Notes - Kevin Le Gendre
credits
released December 4, 2020
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Building a bridge between jazz and experimental dance music, Brotherly were one of the most creative bands to emerge from Britain in the mid 2000s. Vocalist-pianist Anna Stubbs and multi-instrumentalist Rob Mullarkey studied jazz at the Leeds College of Music and Guildhall School of Music, and then became immersed in London’s club culture, particularly the broken beat scene that grew around nights such as Co-Op. Brotherly’s 2005 debut single ‘Put It Out’ reflected that influence, and in 2007 the duo released a full length album, 'One Sweet Life', followed in 2010 by 'Find First Light', and a collection of their standout tracks is now issued for the first time on limited edition vinyl (and CD/DL) as Analects.
It has one previously unreleased track, ‘The Code’, and three reworked tracks with new guests Donny McCaslin, Kaidi Tatham and Jason Rebello. The stellar cast list for the material written by Anna and Rob makes it clear that the duo has always had an interest in many rather than one school. Keyboardist Tatham and vocalist Eska were key fixtures in broken beat, pianist Rebello has been a major name in British jazz since the mid ‘80s, rapper Ty, who smartly sidestepped lyrical and musical cliché, was a fearless trailblazer of UK hip-hop, and McCaslin is a versatile, dynamic American saxophonist known for his work with Maria Schneider and David Bowie among others.
At the heart of Analects is Anna and Rob’s fine compositions and production. The vocabulary they developed had all the intricacy one would expect of musicians with a background in improvisation, but they were still mindful of how a song could be transformed by the kind of outré sequencing, engineering and mixing that had raised the temperature at clubs.
Brotherly created musically ambitious work that was also relevant to the club culture of the day, acknowledging the advent of many producer-driven movements from which improvising artists could learn. ‘System’, with its bulldozing bassline, sprightly theme and ethereal flute, brilliantly sets out their stall while the combination of an African-slanted 6/8 pulse and Kaidi Tatham’s piping keys make ‘Raindown’ compellingly hypnotic. Jason Rebello’s graceful acoustic piano brings a light-as-a-feather sensitivity to ‘World In A World’ while the heavy duty funky strut of ‘Skin Deep’ is a teasing backdrop for commentary on vain superficiality, a topical piece in a selfie-obsessed society.
Then again Anna’s telling lyrics on ‘Searching’ (I’m looking for something else/Trying to transcend myself) or ‘The Code’ (He’s the world’s biggest story/The story of matriarchal glory/She bore him a child/This child she had to hide) are borne of a willingness of address subjects as varied as the search for individuality and the cryptic, mind bending backstory of The Da Vinci Code. ‘One Sweet Life’, with its heartbeat-like riff and pithy refrain (To do your thing/to sink or swim) has taken on great poignancy given the recent passing of featured guest Ty, and the sense of general vulnerability created by the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. This new meaning underlines the fact that Brotherly’s music now stands as an invaluable glue between a past of a more carefree state of mind and a present of universal angst. All the more reason to celebrate the second coming of a band and their music that has fully stood the test of time.
Kevin Le Gendre (author of Don’t Stop The Carnival: Black Music In Britain Volume 1)
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
"Of all the musical surprises in this bleakest of years, the return of UK duo Brotherly has to be among the highlights."
Jazzwise Magazine
"Artist of the Week"
OneLuvFM
"The palette is wide and it's refreshing to hear and see Brotherly get a second bite of the cherry - they certainly know how to hit the sweet spot."
Blues & Soul
"The groove and beats that powerfully pave the way are of timeless freshness."
Sonic Soul Reviews
"Analects is a tribute to a duo that deserves all the credit."
Written in Music ★★★★1/2
"Sweeping textures that run through soul, hip hop, jazz, broken beat and electronica."
The House That Soul Built
"A welcome retrospective of Brotherly's eclectic and dynamic releases."
★★★★ UK Vibe
"The mixture of genres can be heard, always bringing new sounds and nuances to light."
Der Hörspiegel
Such a beautiful tribute to Wayne Shorter's harmonies: Jazz, Funk, Soul and everything in between. This record is brimming with exceptional compositions played by a stellar group of musicians who possess a never ending well of improvisational ideas. An absolute must have! It sounds already like an all time classic and is on constant repeat in my place. Martial
Previously a holy grail for collectors, the reissue of “Infinity” gives a peek into the wildly creative Philly jazz scene of of the '70s and '80s. Bandcamp Album of the Day Apr 16, 2021