Soft Machine Legacy: Theo Travis (tenor and sopranos saxes, flute), John Etheridge (electric guitar), Hugh Hopper (electric bass) and John Marshall (drums, percussion). From the album Steam (2007).
One could easily ignore a group that had the word “Legacy” in its name, thinking that it would be outdated, especially when it comes to the legacy of Soft Machine, which at its best was reinvented with every album it published in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, this 21st century band of Soft Machine ex-members is actually able to better convey the spirit of their predecessor group by overlooking the legacy issue. Of course, the important thing is to maintain the balance, that is, to build on a magnificent musical foundation, even if it’s laid in the past, tracing fascinating and unexpected new paths in the present. Its four members know the history of Soft Machine very well and its echoes can be heard in the fuzz bass, the tape loops, the accessible melodies, the ignited solos, the rhythmic creativity and the adventurous spirit.
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But we also find something new: a cohesion among musicians that increases their capacity for collective improvisation. Only with the jazz-rock themes you can already recommend the album, but the tracks that really stand out are the ones based on pure improvisation, introducing a new dimension that fits perfectly into the mix. “Footloose” and “The Steamer” are post-Canterbury jazz-rock workouts, while “The Big Man” is impressive with Etheridge’s thick guitar chords and Travis’s electronic effects before the performance of an improvised interlude in which the melody disappears and the jazz-rock suddenly explodes. “Chloe and the Pirates” is a nice version of the oniric song that appears in Six (1973).
Travis makes with the flute a floating interpretation in the middle of loops and sound effects, creating a dramatic atmosphere with a variety of frightening tones and textures. After that, Etheridge also begins to play navigating over the wide hum and a short dialogue is established between the flute and the guitar, and then another one between the guitar and the electric bass. Meanwhile, Travis occasionally flies over the sound swamp with the flute until he switches to the soprano sax and assumes a predominant role. Then he offers a meditative melody that later intensifies with Etheridge following in his footsteps and Hopper’s monstrous electric bass occupying the underground kingdoms. At the end, Travis is left alone playing a delightful coda.
© MoonJune Records