Style: Prog rock, jazz-rock, folk (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Steely Dan, The Flower Kings, Yes, Kamasi Washington, Jethro Tull, Jacob Collier
Country: International
Release date: 10 May 2024
A prog flute legend, 40% of Supertramp, Toto’s drummer, like eight famous jazz musicians, Al di Meola, and Rainbow’s keyboardist walk into a bar. The bartender says, “this is far too specific and unfunny to be a joke.” And indeed, it’s actually A Memory of Our Future, Mandoki Soulmates’ sixth studio LP after over two decades in the biz. This thing is a who’s who of global talent, the supergroup to end all supergroups. Surely the sheer quantity of skill prevents Mandoki Soulmates from falling by the wayside like so many disappointing supergroups before them.
A Memory of Our Future sounds superb, its completely analog production quality crystal clear and sparing no detail. Balancing eighteen performers weaving in and out of the fray, Mandoki Soulmates never lose track of anything, even perpetually under-mixed and overlooked rhythm instruments like the bass and tabla crisp and loud. Most favored in the mix is Ian Anderson’s (Jethro Tull) flute, taking a clear lead in tracks like “Blood in the Water” and “Devil’s Encyclopedia,” and his reedy lead tone seems as good a candidate as any to be the stock in this melting pot of prog and jazz talents, though I admittedly prefer when the various brass players take a more traditionally jazz-y lead.
Mandoki Soulmates smoothly mix their members’ prog and jazz heritages along with a distinct “global music” influence à la Anderson/Stolt—mostly from the Hindustani classical tradition with frequently used tabla and infrequent sitar—to create shifting song-structures and varied soundscapes, somewhere between Steely Dan, Jethro Tull, and The Flower Kings. Perhaps closest in ambition, however, is modern jazz titan Kamasi Washington whose several hour long albums similarly gather a huge crew of amazing musicians to ebb and flow with all the drama of the movements of the cosmos. Unfortunately, Mandoki Soulmates, despite being primed to similarly exude charismatic drama, play it safe with standard grooves and an implementation of the jazz instruments which makes A Memory of Our Future sound like hotel lobby music. Rather than stunning climaxes where the whole band builds off one another’s energies, most songs build back to repetitive choruses, all the while at a snail’s pace. If there wasn’t such varied instrumentation, A Memory of Our Future would land somewhere between pop rock and muzak.
The biggest crutch to creating a bit of pizazz is the vocal performance, which, except for some pleasant harmonizations, is dry with limited range and a stock-standard tone. The choruses are redundant, usually chanting the song title a couple of times before moving on, and the lyrics are cringeworthy, such as calling social media the “Devil’s Encyclopedia”—boomer prog at its finest. Instrumentally, Mandoki Soulmates excel as a group with this much collective experience should. Play it safe they certainly do, but Al di Meola’s acoustic sections are gorgeous, the several keyboardists all have chances to shine—notably on closer “Melting Pot”—and “The Wanderer” highlights some spectacular fretless bass playing, the tone to die for. As an extended jam, A Memory of Our Future works, and if the energy were increased, this thing would be an amazing spiritual jazz album, but with the vocals it’s all filler, no killer. Stellar instrumental ornamentation can’t save a seventy-eight minute, bland album. Mandoki Soulmates have all the most expensive spices but use them in such minute quantities as to be a disappointing tease.
If you want the most expensive sounding muzak ever, A Memory of Our Future is perfect, yacht rock for a prog fan. Its length makes it ideal to throw on during a lazy Sunday afternoon as background music for reading the newspaper, but it’s a shame these eighteen musicians are reduced to this. It’s monstrous at eighty minutes long with as many people as it has, yet it never leans into excess. Something like this needs swagger, gusto, pizazz, and drama: A Memory of Our Future lacks that, a pitifully soulless use of pedigree.
Recommended tracks: The Big Quit, A Memory of My Future, Melting Pot
You may also like: Anderson/Stolt, Transatlantic, Southern Empire
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
Label: InsideOut Music – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Mandoki Soulmates is:
– look at the cover art
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