Cool Hunting

Tireless musical innovator Matthew Herbert has never been one to simply rest on his laurels or make a simple pop record for entertainment value alone. In a career spanning jazz, house, techno and avant-garde, Herbert has always pushed boundaries stylistically, technically and thematically. Scale, his latest full length album, masterfully works on both the micro and the macro levels. It surprises, delights and questions in its many levels of depth of character and beauty.

On the surface, Scale is his most celebratory and harmonious album to date. Frequent vocal collaborator Dani Siciliano is featured prominently, along side singers Neil Thomas and Dave Okumu. Scale also features a chamber orchestra, woodwind section, horns and many of the big band players heard on Herbert's 2003 album Goodbye Swingtime making for an immediately accessible, sumptuous listening experience.

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But its under this subversively smooth surface where Herbert's penchant for experimentation and political message work though almost subconsciously. Scale has a subtle subtext of political themes, mostly related to Herbert's strong feelings about the end of the oil era and the wars in its name. Instead of outright lyrical diatribes (though the lyrics are quite multilayered), his message is carried through the use of unusual "instruments" such as coffins, petrol pumps, meteorites, an RAF Tornado bomber, someone being sick outside a banquet for a London arms dealers trade fair, and drums recorded in bizarrely diverse conditions: under the sea, in a hot air balloon, in a network of caves, and in a car speeding at 100 miles per hour. Although one would have to read the liner notes to really recognize all these elements for what they are, the sense of seriousness, tension and protest they symbolize can still be heard even under the luscious orchestration and clever song craft that structures them.

Scale is the celebration of a highly successful career and a personal measurement of that success against a backdrop of war, poverty and inequality. "Hopefully the album still has that celebratory quality, even though it's kind of sad," Herbert concludes. "To be honest I'm pissed off with myself. I wanted to write an upbeat pop record, but I didn't. You cant do that when Dick Cheney is in control. The world is so messy at the moment, I couldn't bring myself to do it. But I would really like this record to be considered upbeat. It's designed to be enjoyable." It most definitely is.

Scale is available from K7 Records.