Red Snapper - Wallowing in groove and rhythm

Formed in the early '90s, when the trip-hop and acid-jazz scenes were emerging and taking shape, Red Snapper are a trio officially formed in 1993 in London by Ali Friend (double bass), Richard Thair (drums) and David Ayers (guitar), though each had already been active individually before that. Skilled sound craftsmen and nimble musicians, Red Snapper have been linked by music journalism mainly to the English trip-hop scene, even though they are in fact adjacent to it rather than part of it, being firmly rooted in the aesthetics and breakbeats of acid-jazz. It's precisely in relation to these parallel genres that, in the '90s, they released their best work, in a game of mutual influence with the many artists belonging to these and neighbouring scenes. Their early days are marked above all by experimentation and sonic collage, which the three would soon trade for a more polished, stylish execution, producing compositions that were less jarring but skilfully catchy, cinematic and hazy. With the turn of the century, however, the trio would lose some of their inspiration, slipping into self-indulgence, a trend that would carry the band through to their split and subsequent reunion, which saw the members back together with a renewed verve that nonetheless showed up only sporadically.

The early EPs were condensed in 1995 into the album Reeled And Skinned, which stylistically and instrumentally reshuffles the Englishmen's pedigree. As already mentioned, the scene they emerge from is so-called acid-jazz music, from the English side of Incognito, Jamiroquai and Brand New Heavies to the American side of Brooklyn Funk Essentials. But the group enriches and transforms it with various contaminations, in particular funk, dub and electronica, borrowing the rhythmic palette of trip-hop and much more, while always keeping an instrumental base on which to layer the effects or with which to imitate them. This makes them in some ways comparable to Portishead, who on their 1994 debut "Dummy" had used analogue instrumentation to emulate and reproduce the sounds and timbres of electronic and hip-hop artists, though the moods and atmospheres on show here are entirely different, far livelier. The drums' versatility proves especially compelling in this regard, shifting effortlessly from sections following downtempo rhythms to others that are faster and more propulsive. Above all, though, it's the use of the double bass that makes the sound malleable and appealing, with Friend showing off technique without virtuosity or showmanship, focusing on choosing just the right notes, working on both melody and rhythm.

The opening pairing of "Snapper" and "One Legged Low Frequency Guy" is a top-tier opener, at the crossroads between trip-hop and instrumental hip-hop, enriched with the many influences the trio plays at assembling, with a cadenced, seductive downtempo drum pattern, electronic flourishes scattered in the distance, disorienting effects and atmospheric vocalizing that wrap around the listener. "Swank" shifts into more of a midtempo groove, accompanied by insistent jazz horns, ethnic percussion and funky phrasing.

Among the guests are Allan Riding on saxophone and Beth Orton for occasional vocal lines (the warm, rocking, noirish "In Deep" stands out). The ice has now been broken.

Full maturity arrives the following year with Prince Blimey, officially their debut album (in fact their second). With this record the trio present themselves to the British scene with a liquid, atmospheric style, essentially an intriguing crossroads between trip-hop and acid-jazz, a connecting link between two parallel scenes that defined the English '90s. More specifically, it's a varied and painstakingly crafted work occupying a niche where influences also converge from funky and jazzy-tinged rock, electronica and dub, ideally bridging early Massive Attack with Curtis Mayfield and Stereolab, alternating slower, more contemplative tracks with more dynamic ones. There are no vocal parts, except sporadically, where the voice is dosed out like just another accompanying instrument, on a par with the rest. The moods are hazy, urban and nocturnal, enriched by a meticulous taste for sonic collage and a playful attitude that comes to the fore in its disorienting sound games.

Many of the group's finest performances are on this record: the opening "Crusoe Takes A Trip" is an engaging piece of electronic acid-jazz; "Digging Doctor What What" is the longest and most intense track of the bunch, blending dub, jazz-funk and breakbeat at a crossroads somewhere between Apollo 440 and Lamb; "The Paranoid" recalls Bjork filtered through soul; "Get Some Trip Together" is among the most jazzy and exhilarating moments; "Get Some Trip Together" fuses breakbeat with hip-hop and nu-jazz in an atmospheric, enveloping gust; the closing "Lo-Beam" is a fine piece of ambient/downtempo with penetrating dub and almost shoegaze-like distortion.

This time the saxophone is handled by Ollie Moore, while the female vocals belong to Anna Haigh.

Prince Blimey is at once a perfect calling card for approaching trip-hop for those who grew up steeped in acid-jazz circles, and, conversely, an open door into the less celebrated world of acid-jazz for those who've devoured the most renowned trip-hop artists and their more formulaic followers.

More direct and catchy, Making Bones is once again a crossroads between acid-jazz and trip-hop, enriched in particular by splashes of big-beat, drum&bass and jazz-funk. Unfortunately, some of the more improvisational, unconventional attitude is lost, but it's counterbalanced by a greater attention to groove. The listening experience is guided above all by the mutually reinforcing interplay between Ali Friend's bass and Byron Wallen's trumpet. The album's colours are slightly darker, and in places recall something halfway between early Massive Attack, Brand New Heavies, the very earliest Amon Tobin and Portishead – the latter surfacing in atmospheres that edge close to spy-movie soundtracks. The result is positive, but inferior to the previous record, which sounds more consistent and bold. The electro-jazzy reggae of "Suckerpunch", the downtempo of "4 Dead Monks", the rapped acid-jazz of "The Sleepless", the string-and-piano combinations of "Spitalfields" (somewhere between Archive and Lamb) are among the best moments. The weaker ones, on the other hand, come when the trio lingers too long on overly repetitive breakbeat and drum'n'bass, as in "The Tunnel" or "Like A Moving Truck".

In 2000 came Our Aim Is to Satisfy Red Snapper, but the result isn't entirely satisfying. The album sounds largely nocturnal, atmospheric and fairly catchy overall, with the emphasis often placed on danceable rhythms, but unfortunately it also lacks the depth of arrangement that characterised the previous records. The main problem, though, is that as a selection of tracks it's decidedly uneven. While the opener "Keeping Pigs Together" proves excellent, driven as it is by uptempo beats, alienating sounds and penetrating basslines, most of the remaining tracks rely unfortunately on a handful of recycled ideas.

Essentially, the best tracks are those that lean closest to ambient ("Belladonna") and trip-hop ("Shellback", or above all the gorgeous closer "They're Hanging Me Tonight"). The rest of the material ranges from passable to mediocre, reshuffling drum'n'bass, reggae and downtempo in a way that's too formulaic, losing spontaneity along the way. In some cases the trio cooks up playful, bizarre sounds (as on "The Rake") but they remain just sketches, nothing more. The production is polished, but it only masks a result that falls short of expectations. The female vocals are by Karim Kendra.

At this point things get complicated within the English outfit: each member has their own musical direction clashing with the others', which shows in the uneven songwriting, the result of a lack of cohesion and team spirit. Despite mutual respect, disagreements and differences of opinion arise over which path to take. So in 2002 the group splits up, leaving behind only a remix album titled Redone and, in 2003, a self-titled outtakes collection, Red Snapper, which alternates downtempo tracks with dance and breakbeat numbers, but is more a collection of undeveloped ideas and sketches. The best moments are probably the sharp trip-hop of opener "Regrettable" and the soundtrack-like sounds of the electro-acoustic "Odd Man Out".

Nothing more is heard from Red Snapper for a few years. But nostalgia, as we know, is a tricky thing, and the trio reunite in 2007 for a jam session, followed by the announcement of an official reunion. Saxophonist Tom Challenger joins as an official member, bringing the band's lineup up to four musicians.

The return to the studio comes the following year with A Pale Blue Dot, a title dedicated to the famous Voyager probe photo showing Earth as a tiny blue speck suspended in cosmic space billions of kilometres away. The album has nothing left to do with trip-hop, but it's stylistically varied, atmospheric and inspired, especially on the rhythmic side, though it never dares to go further. It's a catchy, pleasant record, from the jazzy pop-rock of opener "Bricked" onward, but it doesn't look for a spark, settling instead into a somewhat more polished chillout mode. Certainly more cohesive and listenable than the band's previous releases, the record nonetheless fails to reach the heights of brio and looseness of their debut. It feels more like an unpretentious divertissement, aiming only to have fun and entertain with melodic, liquid tracks that are engaging in their simplicity.

Expectations for something more ambitious are also partly let down in 2011 with Key, which this time finds the quartet overreaching, indulging in redundancy and self-indulgence. Excessively long-winded and monotonous, the record rests on just a few atmospheric foundations over which very few electronic, acoustic or vocal elements are developed. It's redeemed, just barely, by its closing stretch, where there are a few moments of greater compositional inspiration blending acid-jazz, electro-rock and downtempo.

Inspiration remains inconsistent in 2014 with Hyena, but this time the result is decidedly more cohesive and intriguing. The album contains music originally composed for the soundtrack of the film "Touki Bouki". It could have been a truly excellent record were it not for a few flaws, but overall it's a positive step forward from its predecessor and probably Red Snapper's best album in 15 years. The best moments are those that evoke downtempo or liquid electronica ("Lassoo", "Archout"), the jazzier ones ("Dock Running", the smouldering noir of "No Exit", the perhaps too-brief "Traffic"), and those tinged with Afro sounds, especially on the rhythmic side ("Wonky Bikes" or "Mambetty", enriched by gorgeous guitar and string interplay supporting the percussion).

The lion's share of the work is carried by Friend's double bass, which navigates one of his finest performances in terms of arrangement. Overall, the record's strengths lie in its measured eclecticism and the dense, smoky atmospheres that envelop the listening experience. The best results come in the moments where ethnic and modern tonalities combine; the tracks closest to jazz and funk are among the most engaging and colourful. But a few negligible filler tracks and repetitive moments remain, reducing the overall harmony and suggesting that more could have been done by expanding on the ethnic side.

Either way, there's something genuinely fascinating in the trio's ability to adapt to the needs of the context, drawing on specific reference points and reshaping them as needed. In this sense, Red Snapper once again prove themselves, with this record, to be excellent craftsmen who know how to pinpoint the mood and atmosphere best suited to their tracks each time.

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