Wasting no time since last month’s Brownswood compilation of new London talent, We Out Here, saxophonist Nubya Garcia – who featured on five of its nine tracks – has just dropped her second EP. When We Are EP features long-time collaborators Femi Koleoso on drums, Joe Armon-Jones on keys and Daniel Casimir on bass, and is a marked departure from the hushed environs of the jazz club into the propulsive movement of the dance floor.
This club-to-club transition is exemplified by Garcia’s enlisting of Wild Oats regular K15 and producer Maxwell Owin on remix duties. Owin, who collaborated with Armon-Jones on last year’s Dilla-influenced Idiom EP, takes the frenetic beat of ‘Source’ and flips it into a Rhodes-heavy slow burner. Opening with a wash of ambient chords, Garcia’s languorous saxophone lines float through the reverb and a pared-down cross stick beat. The dance floor is ever-present though, with a muddy synth-bass soon coming to the fore as Garcia’s meandering melodies intensify. All groove, Owin’s remix provides a sultry counterpart to the original’s intensity.
When We Are is out 8th March – buy from Bandcamp.
