Two Banks of Four - Three Street Worlds

In the end, it all comes back to jazz.

Many of today’s underground music artists cruise adeptly through the twisted corridors of funk, rock, house (broken and unbroken), r-n-b, drum-n-bass, dub, blip-trip-and hip-hop, creating style by recreating what has come before. Style baths the dancefloor—a world savvy metropolis unto itself- swollen with syncopated rhythms, relentless 4/4 throbs, dirty basslines, where high hats and snares strut irreverently, and vocals soar to worlds unimagined.

In the end, however, it all comes back. . .

Rob Gallagher and Demus are 2 Banks of 4, and along with vocalists Valerie Etienne, Paul Jason Fredericks, and Bembe Segue, pianist Ski Oakenfull, bassist Andy Hamill, flutist and saxophonist Andy Ross, they travel through the grey cityscapes of "Three Street Worlds". Theirs is an eloquent journey attended by an enrapturing soundtrack that transcends the boundaries of musical epochs.

One should saunter through “Three Street Worlds”, so as not to miss its subtleties. Meander, with eyes wide open, to see sultry swing of “One Day”; hands ungloved, to feel the heat “Rising” from the bowels of beneath the city; ears poised to the haunting tale of an old woman collecting the “Unclaimed” dreams of those dead; head titled upward, mouth open to drink in the hazy twilit dew falling from the album’s title track.

"Three Street Worlds" is a masterful accomplishment in modern music, on par with stellar works throughout the ages.

Acknowledgement: In the end, it all comes back to jazz, ‘cos jazz is where it all begins.