The
Chameleon Project - Funk n Space
This
is the sort of band that cuts through the dross of the modern music scene and
stands out as an example of where the music of the future can lead us. The
Chameleon Project’s Funk n Space brings
together a wide array of diverse musical influence into one overarching
concoction that, if any justice remains in the musical world of 2017, will see
this Toronto quartet elevated to a position of great prominence among musical
acts today. There are a couple of remixes added at the album’s conclusion, but
the body of the album is an eight song journey gliding its way through jazz
grooves, funk, disco, reggae, electronica, and even strong rock strains with
confidence of a band far beyond their years. There’s not a single misstep on
Funk n Space. It’s an invigorating musical trip from the first while never
announcing its presence in a chest beating sort of way. There’s no bravado
here, no bluster. Instead, there’s a band who takes on eight songs bursting
with understated ambition that never neglect the central mandate of all great
music – communicating with an audience.
“Milky
Way” is one of the album’s more conventional moments, hinging largely on its
melodic virtues to be successful, but it’s a track sure to hook in many
listeners from just a few notes alone. It’s the album’s second longest song,
but The Chameleon Project are one of those rare units who can extemporize and
move over an extended duration without losing their audience. “Steppin’” shows
off similar characteristics with their deft recall of the reggae style filtered
through the distinctly modern soundscapes that are the bedrock of their musical
experience. However, like on the opener, melody is part of that central bedrock
as well, but it emerges from the musical arrangement more strongly here than many
of the other songs. The first of their
tracks to show a rock influence, “Kraken”, brings the aforementioned style
seamlessly together with an evocative soundscape and effects laden guitar
lines. It has a stronger imaginative edge than most of the fine creative tunes
on Funk n Space . There’s a stronger intensity to this tune than many of the
others on the release.
“Bigfoot”
has a hammering rhythm section well recorded and hammering its point home time
after time with confidence that we normally associate with veteran outfits.
Despite the risk-taking and electronic gloss accompanying the song, you can
listen closely and discern the skeleton of the basic track beneath. Above
nearly all else, The Chameleon Project succeeds because they are solid and
accomplished songwriters, a fact borne out time and again during the track
listing. The album’s finale “Wako” has a tremendous amount of color coming
through during every passage of its six minute plus length and brings the band’s command of various
styles to life without any of them every striking a dischorant contrast with
the other. Funk n Space may likely stand, despite how many albums they write
and record, as The Chameleon Project’s supreme achievement because of the sense
of new pervading its eight tracks, but they are clearly a band with the
potential to produce even greater work if fortune remains on their side.
Dale
Butcher
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