Aman Jagwani: This Place

Aman Jagwani
This Place
(Aman Jagwani)

Ron Cha’s keys that float and super snappy kinetic highly-tuned percussion from Aman Pankaj Jagwani, both playing under Anubha Kaul’s high warble-of-a-vocal, start us off on the new album from Jagwani called This Place.

Kaul performs her jumpy scat under some tight percussion from Jagwani, as the rest of the players slip a sly melody in on “Elastic Slumber.” This is a slightly more commercial melody to catch, second song in, proving Jagwani is as fine a player as a composer. And things thankfully slow down nicely on “Palm Tree,” with Cha’s piano and other keys layering nicely in this ballad. There are some sweet harmonies here too, and not for the first time was I reminded of Stevie Wonder on the sound and production here.

The washy-bleed of synth keys and Jagwani set “Now” off at a break-neck speed as Kaul finds her place and the whole upbeat concoction of This Place ends with sailing synths, Jagwani once again off on his own and vocal inflections meandering in, out, and around, with later even some wild key lead on what is probably the richest stew on all of This Place, “Breakthrough.”

I dig the expert musicianship of the players here and the songs when they don’t meander too long. Overall, Aman Jagwani’s This Place is a fine place to be.