Review: Sons Of Ra ‘Standard Deviation’

Right from the off, I’m going to say one simple thing. This album is beyond cool, so cool that even penguins are hot stepping from one place to another when they hear it. Sons Of Ra have managed to fuse elements of jazz, rock, prog and anything else they deem worthy, to create a true masterpiece.

The trio consists of guitarist Erik Oldman Vecchione, drummer Mike Rataj and saxophonist/bassist Keith Wakefield, and despite emerging some twenty years ago, after several EPs, this release, Standard Deviation is the trio’s debut album. It’s an interesting title, as it is clearly not ‘standard’ and the ‘deviation’ is breathtaking, you only need to listen to the first few minutes of opener Disintegration (Alabama Revisited) to realise that the composition is off the scale.

Throughout the record, you feel that your senses are under constant attack as there are so many noises coming at you from different directions. As the band says, ‘we started to experiment with these different facets of performance and arrangement paradigms’ and there is no let up during Outside Looking In, even with its funkier soundscape. You can hear that avant-garde jazz flowing freely and this is a track that will get your body moving around. This wouldn’t have been out of place on a soundtrack for a late ‘70s/early ‘80s American cop show, where the protagonists are having a night out after successfully solving their case.

Don’t Know Yet is a strange little number to begin with, with the sound of the saxophone coming to prominence before you are hit by a deep metal riff, like a train coming up the tracks. They slow back down to let the sax take over again, but it’s sinister in its delivery, as if it’s warning you of what is about to happen, but you are powerless to prevent the wonderful cacophony of sound. Intrepidation sees a more laid-back approach, with the band commenting that ‘Mike was interested in exploring other genres and infusing different elements’ and this shines through here. Picture walking hand in hand down Ipanema Beach with your loved one, and you’ve got this song all figured out.

Sons Of Ra have managed to fuse elements of jazz, rock, prog and anything else they deem worthy, to create a true masterpiece…

Vashkar has more of a progressive sound to the rhythm, as the sweet-sounding saxophone sprawls all over the repetitive beat. And then you get that tempo change, the drums intensify, before it bursts into life going off into another crazy direction, as the solo flits all over the place, leaving your head spinning. A slower pace greets you on Upstart with explosions of sound splattered across the song. I love and really admire the way that the band has, in their own words, brought in ‘live looping and synthesizers’ whilst ‘maintaining intensity and heaviness’. It’s rare indeed to find records like this, but oh boy, have these three succeeded.

Porous Silver is an upbeat song that will have your toes tapping and fingers clicking away in no time. Guitars dominate the early section, but when that smooth-as-silk funky bassline kicks in, it is majestic. The trio are making some scintillating songs that are going to turn heads, and with the blending of genres, this is probably my favourite song on the album.

A more soulful sounding saxophone welcomes you to the penultimate track Nature Boy with the pitter patter of the cymbals audible in the background. About two minutes in, the beat changes with the saxophone still dominating but with other instruments coming into the mix. The guitar takes over to pull you deep into their creative space. Having drawn profoundly from their individual passions and stories, the trio end with Lividity And The Ascension which is the final chance to hear what they have created. And it feels somewhat euphoric, like the end of a fairytale adventure as you sit back, relax and just go WOW!!

Label: Lasers Edge
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Matthew Williams