Album Review: Mörk – Still Dreamin’: shape-shifting soul-jazz energy from the Budapest band.

The Breakdown

Mörk prove over these nine tracks that any hype that comes is justified. 'Still Dreamin’ covers some musical distance, between and at times within songs, but the energy or ideas never get spread too thin.

Albert's Favourites – 8.8

Okay so we know that as far as new scenes go Rio gets touted as the upcoming centre of 21st century tropicalia pop and Geneva continues to excel in pushing its very individual avant / post punk refresh. Well, it now seems that Budapest may be building up to having its own moment with its unshackled jazz fusion/dance community making waves washing way beyond the Danube. You might have picked up on the psychedelic beat blasts Jazzbois’ recent debut ‘Still Blunted’, well now comes another vibrant but sonically very different opening statement from four-piece Mörk and their album ‘Still Dreamin’ (what is it with the stillness?).

Being released on Adam Scrimshire’s Alberts Favourites label already suggests bags of interest will be incoming from the nu-jazz and soul crew but Mörk prove over these nine tracks that any hype that comes is justified. ‘Still Dreamin’ covers some musical distance, between and at times within songs, but the energy or ideas never get spread too thin. This is a band who met as students and who make a shared sound so intuitively connected that their shape shifting between soul, R n B, pop, funk, smooth-jazz and indie-dance never feels forced. Their playing and vocalising is immaculate, the Mörk sound well-oiled and frictionless but not over-smooth or predictable.

Opener Astral Visions sets out the band’s intentions on ‘Still Dreamin’. A spacey Khruangbin-esque slow sway with sixties sci-fi soundtrack vocals swooping around, the tune suggests some cosmic-leaning neo-soul vibes will be on offer… but then again maybe not. There’s certainly a thread of neatly realised contemporary R n B songs gliding silkily through the album. Towards The Sun has a crisp, sharp live sound to it, the elastic bass lines, clipped guitar phrases and slick falsetto bopping with the enthusiasm of eighties Brit-funk. Those same references echo around the nimble pop-soul of Sweet (David Grant’s Lynx anyone ?) whereas Only Mine stretches out a sultry R n B path with hints of D’Angelo’s luxuriant funkiness and classic Curtis in the upbeat, groove literate playout.

Then again, Mörk’s music also hints at that psychedelic, guitar-led feel of some of Nick Hakim’s output. So it’s not surprising that they’ve found their way onto renowned fusion producer Scrimshire’s progressive imprint. It fits that when ‘Still Dreamin’ steps into more unexpected territory, the band show that they can move neo-soul beyond expected templates. Take the afrobeat/nu-jazz invention of Dromedar which prowls through keyboardist Damjan Ocsovay’s shady passages of burbling synths and electric piano tingles. Amongst the shadows, Neue Grafik collaborator, rapper and poet Brother Portrait purrs his surreal spoken word, adding a Roots Manuva gravitas into the flow. Equally expansive, closing track Cosmic Connect is a lush dreamy, big ballad which highlights the expressive range and exquisite reach of Mark Zentai’s vocals, as they sigh and cry with a David McCalmont gentleness.

Whether going through the modern soul gears or pushing out to a more fusion intense trajectory, Mörk’s ‘Still Dreamin’ is consistently driven by a strong band ethic. Alongside Zentai’s guitar and vocal plus Ocsovay’s keyboards, the Jason Szeifert /Daniel Szabo bass/drums partnership ensure that there’s drive and drama to match the fine songs. As a result, the foursome can take the jazz fringed melody of the breezy California Dreamin’, inject some frisky yacht-rock locomotion and still sound natural. Even more graphically, on the New Order nodding Heaven Sent, Mörk effortlessly manage to make post-punk, goth and indie-dance connections without losing any of their more soulful poise. As the A-ha vibes rise with falsetto vocals and that pumping rhythm, you can’t avoid being swept along. Then there’s the equally infectious Talking Whale, which sees the band merging power pop and guitar freakery to make a dynamic Living Colour meets Brothers Johnson pulse racer. “1,2,3,4…she was a talking whale” they sing, just to add to the fun.

In honing their sound Mörk have a track record of playing their music anywhere and everywhere in nurseries, gyms, cafés and front rooms. That same ‘can do’ thrill bursts out of ‘Still Dreamin’ and is a mindset that hopefully Mörk will sustain. It’s when they mess with the r&b/soul/jazz funk parameters that the sparks really fly here and the message gets clearer. This is potentially a band with no limits.