Analects

Building a bridge between jazz and experimental dance music, Brotherly were one of the most creative bands to emerge from Britain in the mid 2000s. Vocalist-pianist Anna Stubbs and multi-instrumentalist Rob Mullarkey studied jazz at the Leeds College of Music and Guildhall School of Music, and then became immersed in London’s club culture, particularly the broken beat scene that grew around nights such as Co-Op. Brotherly’s 2005 de­but single ‘Put It Out’ reflected that influence, and in 2007 the duo released a full length album, ‘One Sweet Life’, followed in 2010 by ‘Find First Light’.

It has one previously unreleased track, ‘The Code’, and three reworked tracks with new guests Donny McCaslin, Kaidi Tatham and Jason Rebello. The stellar cast list for the material written by Anna and Rob makes it clear that the duo has always had an interest in many rather than one school. Keyboardist Tatham and vocalist Eska were key fixtures in broken beat, pianist Rebello has been a major name in British jazz since the mid ‘80s, rapper Ty, who smartly sidestepped lyrical and musical cliché, was a fearless trailblazer of UK hip-hop, and McCaslin is a versatile, dynamic American saxophonist known for his work with Maria Schneider and David Bowie among others.

At the heart of Analects is Anna and Rob’s fine compositions and production. The vocabulary they developed had all the intricacy one would expect of musicians with a background in improvisation, but they were still mindful of how a song could be transformed by the kind of outré sequencing, engineering and mixing that had raised the temperature at clubs.

Brotherly created musically ambitious work that was also relevant to the club culture of the day, acknowledging the advent of many producer-driven movements from which improvising artists could learn. ‘System’, with its bulldozing bassline, sprightly theme and ethereal flute, brilliantly sets out their stall while the combination of an African-slanted 6/8 pulse and Kaidi Tatham’s piping keys make ‘Raindown’ compellingly hypnotic. Jason Rebello’s graceful acoustic piano brings a light-as-a-feather sensitivity to ‘World In A World’ while the heavy duty funky strut of ‘Skin Deep’ is a teasing backdrop for commentary on vain superficiality, a topical piece in a selfie-obsessed society.

Then again Anna’s telling lyrics on ‘Searching’ (I’m looking for something else/Trying to transcend myself) or ‘The Code’ (He’s the world’s biggest story/The story of matriarchal glory/She bore him a child/This child she had to hide) are borne of a willingness of address subjects as varied as the search for individuality and the cryptic, mind bending backstory of The Da Vinci Code. ‘One Sweet Life’, with its heartbeat-like riff and pithy refrain (To do your thing/to sink or swim) has taken on great poignancy given the recent passing of featured guest Ty, and the sense of general vulnerability created by the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. This new meaning underlines the fact that Brotherly’s music now stands as an invaluable glue between a past of a more carefree state of mind and a present of universal angst. All the more reason to celebrate the second coming of a band and their music that has fully stood the test of time.