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James Larter – Polarity (Next Door Records) | Album Of The Day

James Larter, West-London based multi instrumentalist and percussionist has steadily built up of a reputation for himself as a deft, highly-skilled operator, his abilities on a variety of different percussion instruments ranging from vibraphone to hand percussion have been steadily pricking up ears in the right places. Having studied in London and New York, he’s made an impression as a dexterous and in-demand percussionist, playing with the likes of Sampha and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Polarity treads the gamut between a wide range of worldly influences, touching Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and pan-African modes of playing, injected with low slung and funky basslines and lilted with a tropical register—accented in parts with foley and other percussive dark-arts—and backed up by a ten strong personnel of strong repute. The tracks by and large are overlaid with Larter’s fine vibraphone and marimba playing—a bonafide connoisseur of the mallets who’s impeccable sound ripples throughout the recordings.
The set starts with the title track “Polarity”, a driving marimba chorale sits at the core of the track, bolstered by a hard hitting baseline that glides and pops around the pentatonic scale, underlaid by afro-beat style drums and some gorgeous horn work from London stalwarts James Copus and Freddy Wordsworth. Fender Rhodes keys drive the track towards more electronic territories, before the song elapses with a slow bossa rub, accentuated with vocals from Alan Watts detailing psychedelic experiments. Indra’s Net features some heavy flugelhorn riffing from Copus over a backdrop of harmony vocals, lush string and key arrangements and a cascading marimba which arpeggiate in and out of the frame, scattered like rainfall throughout the track. Featuring a strong vocal cameo from little-known singer Maddy whose soulful delivery steps up to the plate.
“And Then There Were Vibes” sounds eerily similar to a nondescript Pieces of a Dream instrumental, save for Will Heard’s sun-drenched vocals that imbibe a harmonious and uplifting quality, a vocalist of a similar ilk to the likes of Jordan Rakei. The song then drives into a funky mid section, replete with rousing horn work and syncopated percussive patterns, featuring a chopsy guitar solo from Ollie Clark. A Gary Bartz-style sax solo from Sam Glaser on alto supports a supple and low-key register, complimented by Larter on vibraphone.
The album highlight—in the opinion of this writer—Salvadora, starts off with an interplay between trap kit, bongos and triangle, somewhat of a percussive holy trinity. Wah-Wah guitar croons in the background as Jamiroquai’s Stuart Zender idly plucks on his bass, sitting on some low frequency triads with a sense of sonic maturity. Supple and understated chord progressions match up well with Heard’s vocals, which delve between octaves and navigate chromatic shifts beautifully. The track comes across like a Mizell production in the way it is written and produced, certainly shared influences are abundant. After three minutes, the track transforms into a Salvadorean samba battery reminiscent of Airto’s Celebration Suite, a movement that takes the tune to Bahia and back with a fortified dose of samba drumming—further indexing Brazilian rhythms as prominent influences that run throughout the lifeblood of the album. Muito bom…
Additionally, James will be coming to Soul Brother for an in-store meet and greet and album signing on Friday 27th May from 16:00-18:00 so if you’re a fan of the music and fancy meeting James in person, he will be here signing copies and answering your questions about the album, the recording process and his musical in general.

Buy the LP HERE

Listen to the tracks HERE