#immigrance

Snarky Puppy - Immigrance

ALBUM REVIEW: Snarky Puppy — Immigrance

Through their March 15 release Immigrance, the stellar Snarky Puppy has yet again applied their notion of musicality to a masterful studio album. Immigrance is less produced, two songs shorter, and less, or more subtly, varied in terms of world sound influences than their eclectic Culcha Vulcha (2016). I wonder what their thought process was in terms of sonic palette for this album — especially since a part of their band vision may be influenced by a constant kinetic immigration of the self, as a collective, and through an exchange of complex musical ideas. I wonder then which songs were inspired by what sounds, from where, and why. The song “Xavi” particularly stands out to me. Quizzically, I feel that it has always been a part of my life or that I have heard it many times before. It sounds all too familiar, but not in a redundant or unoriginal sense. It sounds so much like a song that has already been deemed truly great that it seems odd to me that it was just released just weeks ago.

The album’s rawness resonates through the cohesion of Immigrance’s musical compositions and energy itself. As the title suggests, and as the music infers, movement, variation, and change are fundamental ideas on which this album is built. Michael League, bandleader and composer for Snarky Puppy, says on their website, "The idea here is that everything is fluid, that everything is always moving and that we’re all in a constant state of immigration." Snarky Puppy’s unfettered notion of Immigrance literally and figuratively transcends into a sonic realm. Movement enters as a theme in a timely manner politically in the United States and around the world. I find myself intrigued by the duality of this theme and how it relates to the band itself— an inclusive and heterogenous concoction of people from different ethnicities and ages.

Contemporary beasts of some unbound combination between what could, but needn’t, be classified as part jazz, be-bop, and fusion, Snarky Puppy rightly refrains from restraining themselves to just one genre, which strengthens the quality and integrity of their musical work and grander vision for their band. Immigrance serves as further evidence that Snarky Puppy will continue to build upon an already promising early 21st century musical legacy.