Album Review: Miracles

In the modern age of quantised beats, samples, and the ability digital recording affords to do a thousand or more takes, there is a sense of artificial perfection that has crept into the core of today’s music and some of the magic of what makes the art form so enigmatic has been lost. so when I heard that the sophomore album from Dr Reknaw was recorded live in wellingtons prestigious surgery studies I was excited to see what they had put together. Having seen them perform live on multiple occasions and being blown away by the quality of their musicianship and the sheer magnitude of their collective sound I was eager to hear just how much of that richly soulful creative juju they were able to capture on record.

…in short

all of it

Every last drop of their funk enriched dub soaked live sound is present on the 8 brilliant new tracks. It’s nothing short of a masterpiece and something I feel the NZ music community has been in dire need of for some time.

In a country known internationally for its roots sound, it can be hard to stand out. going all the way back to the early 90’s New Zealand has produced some of the finest reggae and dub in the world, and after nearly 50 years you might get the sense that the well has perhaps dried up but Miracles is a direct rebuttal of that assumption, its wide ranging dynamic mix of styes, instruments, grooves and intensities feels absolutely fresh and inspired, creating something that feels entirely new while still paying tribute to their musical predecessors but not so much as if standing on the shoulders of giants but more like taking mescaline with them atop a misty mountain and soul blending pure creativity.

Miracles starts off subtly with a gently plucked guitar lick accompanied by soft harmonised vocalisations before drummer Luther Hunt drops in with such a slick and heavy groove your head automatically begins snapping in time with the beat as if your being puppeteered by some kind of mystical funk wizard. But even the best beats can seem somewhat anaemic without a gut busting baseline to fill out the groove and Sophie Cooper is a stone cold ice Queen when it comes to the bottom end.

Lead guitarist Jules Blewman has the musical restraint of a saint canonised for his refusal to abide by the ‘lead guitarist’ stereotype and his ability to blend harmoniously into the background, richly saturating the soundscape in effects bathed psychedelic ambience. That said, there are tracks like God Is In You where he unrepentantly shreds an acoustic guitar over a building Latin samba groove or the occasional crunchy electric solo straight out of the golden days of rock, but just for a moment, then he is back to minimalist execution and perfectly timed bends and hits.

The theme of the record is one of triumphant resilience, inner strength and the divinity of creation. Julia and Sophie are master songsmiths, able to combine introspective depth and philosophical musings with a laissez-faire cheekiness and optimism, paired with their beautiful harmonies and vocal deliveries your keep engaged as if listening to a storyteller of old share the collected wisdom of the ancients through verse like if Homer himself was skanking away whist he performed the Iliad live with a sick dub band.

I have no qualms in saying Miracles is one of the best albums I have listened to in years, it feels like a stim shot in the arm of the Kiwi music community and a return to the kind of performance rich soul infused records of a bygone era. I could go song by song and detail the ways each track is a unique creative triumph, but honestly I feel that would only spoil some of the magic, instead I suggest you just go and have a listen for yourself.

..like right now.