Dutch outfit Subes‘ third full-length effort finds them once again exploring their bass and breaks-heavy amalgam of jazz, bossa and afro-influenced grooves in the eleven track deep Free To Speak. As with its two predecessors Contra Bossa and Thrill From The Pill, this is an all-live instrumentation effort with content varying from club-ready numbers like the sax-led Free Basic Needs and jazzy disco-fied Life to the tripped-out ambient spy-theme shuffle of closer Silent Fight with plenty of head-nod beats and a moment for a bit of bleepy electro in the shape of Early Gift.
The opener and title track’s opening synths might give the impression that you’re about to enter a world of 80s synthesizer-based sci-fi film scores but an organic beat and bass and later some slow-burning Hammond and sinuous sax firmly anchor it in more familiar territory. The shuffling Not My Game makes a virtue of the accordion (lending the track a certain Frenchness – or should I say ‘Je ne sais quoi?) and also provides the first chance to shine for Vivian Prouw who also turns up on the aforementioned club cut Life, and the jaunty Bit Of Love. The afro-American influences are most overt on the epic eight-plus minutes of Dry Ice and the percussive Entre Nosotros. All that and the production is superb throughout. No naked ladies on the cover this time though…
(Out now on Basic Needs Records)