It’s not often that we hear of a band combining highly technical jazz with the loose, slack sensibility of grunge. It was Umbra‘s intention to fuse the two together; an ode to late 80’s and early 90’s Seattle, which housed the scene that would yield the likes Mudhoney, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.
The Irish jazz quintet’s new single, the aptly named ‘Seattle’, is a wonderful mix of discordant instrumentation and grunge pastiche. The epic begins with sludgy power chords, resembling the thick sound of early Seattle bands like Green River and such; and ultimately gives way to some of the best jazz we have heard all year. “Pearl Jam and Nirvana were massive influences on me when I first started playing guitar. Of course it’s also a little bit more poignant now with the passing of Chris Cornell.“, says guitarist Chris Guilfoyle. It’s a nine minutes well spent, if you ask us.
‘Seattle’ will feature in Umbra’s upcoming album, which will be announced very soon. Umbra will be doing a FREE single release show at the Midnight Hour in Whelan’s on June 9th. Check out the details here.