The Speckle is the first single from COAST’s new album SKIM – a polyrhythmic record of expansive jazz, pushing the band into new, adventurous territory.
Taking inspiration from mixtapes pieced together by Minimal Miggy, Godtet, Mecca 83 and more, Coast note that Skim attempts to emulate a love for grazing music interaction – a love that becomes more and more evident as the record progresses. Beyond that, drummer and composer for COAST Paul Derricott has spent the past 12 months sharing stages with Charenee Wade, Vivian Sessoms and Aloe Blacc – their influence being critical to the writing process.
“This album is more introspective and settled,” begins Derricott. “It reflects some of the changes I have made over the last 12 months. After welcoming my second child, moving house and doing an array of gigs, I feel that it’s time to lighten – I think this is reflected in the recording on a sonic level. This is both less of a jazz album and more of a jazz album – more in that we’re playing everything at once with very few edits but less in that my composing is clearer but less ‘jazzy’ (I shouldn’t really use the j word…).”
Grizzly, ominous and tense, The Speckle is the first single from Skim. Bearing a weighty, chambered feel within each changing segment, the track seems closer to a thriller film score than it does Coast’s previous efforts. Moment by moment, the band successfully toy with new scales, weeping brass-sections and spacious guitars while tying it off with snap-jazz drum lines – resulting in a song that represents a tactful reimagining of Coast’s compositions.
“The Speckle is the most intense piece on the album,” says Derricott. “It originated from thinking about the small pieces of things we see around us that have a much more profound existence or story than is immediately apparent. It is the most full on piece and a really challenging thing to play.”
As a follow-up to a fantastic, energetic and technically astounding album, Skim does more than continue Coast’s trend of bringing to life some of Australia’s finest, most intricately textured progressive jazz. Skim represents a successful exploration into new compositional heights for Coast, proving that lightning can indeed strike twice in the same place. For anyone with an ear for instrumental music, complex and engaging drumming and beautiful saxophone-driven textures, this album will surely be a darling of the critics.
Coast’s first single, The Speckle, is available now via Bandcamp.
