Adult Jazz’s debut album is called Gist Is. Without a predicate noun, the title is left incomplete. Open-ended. Unrestricted. Flexible. You get the point. Gist Is is a collection of loosely connected musical ideas that flow unpredictably. It concerns itself with little to nothing in terms of genre or melody making the record a challenging listen, especially initially, but also an adventurous and ultimately rewarding one.
A lot of reviews have been quick to compare Adult Jazz’s sound to performers ranging from Dirty Projectors to Frank Zappa, the common comparison being their unconventional song structures. While it’s true that Adult Jazz’s influences can be heard (all bands are influenced by someone else’s work), it’s the way that they stitch it all together that makes them original. Gist Is flows much like a stream of consciousness, pouncing from idea to idea at will depending on what is immediately interesting. At times, however, the flow more closely resembles movements within a composition. Songs step in and out of syncopation like overlapping color wheels that alternate between primary and non-primary colors as they spin at different speeds. As a whole, if there is one thing Gist Is does not lack it is color.
The opening track, “Hum”, begins minimally with only drones and auto-tuned vocals by primary lyricist, Harry Burgess. It then goes on to showcase the way they like to setup an irregular rhythmic pattern, slyly sync things up to get our heads bobbing, then flip back to irregular. It’s this nonlinear structure that keeps the album interesting, sort of like an art pop puzzle broken up and rearranged in modern jazz shapes. It wouldn’t work at all if each piece wasn’t so well constructed, though. The unaffected lyrics combined with Burgess’ whimsical vocals is killer, and the musicianship is incredible especially considering the variety of instruments implemented.
There are immediately fun moments, like when the funky soul intro of “Springful” (my current favorite track) delicately morphs into twinkly dream pop mode after the first minute only to tweak rhythmically again after another minute. There are also times that take a little longer to unfold, like the gradual evocative build of ten-minute beauty, “Spook”. Either way, Gist Is delivers. It oozes with surprise, boldness and adventure because Adult Jazz are deft navigators of the zones just outside “the box.” With a debut like this, one can scarcely imagine where the foursome may roam from here.