Lophae marks the new project by guitarist Greg Sanders who unveils his new quartet’s independent debut release, ‘Perfect Strangers’.
Having established himself through the blissful spiritual jazz sounds of Teotima, the guitarist and composer can lay claim to a staggering list of accomplishments that seem to exponentially increase the more time that passes.
Through the ensembles’ two full-length First Word releases – ‘Counting the Ways’ (2013) and ‘Weightless’ (2019) – Teotima helped to establish Sanders’ indelible, all-encompassing sound that saw him helm the expansive recording sessions to masterful effect even lending the group’s dynamic sounds to inspired electronic reinterpretations from K15 and Soundspecies.
Sanders has always had the good fortune – and undeniable talent – to continually be blessed with new opportunities and collaborations. Following Teotima, Sanders subsequently went on to score some brilliant and notable collaborations with Argentinian vocalist Juanita Euka and her sensational release for Strut Records in ‘Mabanzo’. With Sanders assuming arrangement, guitar and production duties for the album, work alongside Euka helped provide a fantastic new dimension to the musician’s tool belt nurturing his affections for Latin music and composition.
Similarly, Sanders found himself serving as a key collaborator for projects by fellow guitarist Jonny Wickham (‘Terra Boa’, Fresh Sound New Talent), Inês Loubet (‘Senga’, Albert’s Favourites) and Irina Arabatzi (‘Songs for Them’) all drawn to Sanders’ ability to navigate musical narratives from classic jazz to Afro-Cuban and folk rhythms.
Lophae represents an exciting new phase within Sanders’ career – a new quartet super group comprised of well-versed and established performers within London’s jazz scene including drummer Ben Brown (Waaju, Alfa Mist), bassist Tom Herbert (Beth Orton, Grace Jones) and Sam Rapley (Teotima, Waaju) – a tightly knit unit that has found the foursome playing across each other’s and a variety of artists’ projects for years.
Across the eight tracks that comprise ‘Perfect Strangers’, we’re treated to an incredibly intimate listening experience with tracks both beautifully composed and elegantly performed – perhaps that can in part be attributed to the often-understated nature of the writing or perhaps that can be attributed to the friendships of the performers themselves.
There’s an infectious warmth and comfort that exudes effortlessly throughout the album whether that be captured in the slightly – but deliciously – trippy ‘Dedication to David T’, the signature Latin stylings of the album’s title track or the impassioned yet sublime album closer, ‘Heddon Street’.
For such a dynamic and multi-faceted artist, Greg Sanders has continually managed to establish himself and his voice amidst a variety of settings and ensembles; With Lophae however, the artist seems to have found a new level of confidence and an incredibly shiny new gem to gleam amidst his enthralling treasure chest.
