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Jan 31, 2025There’s a wonderfully empowering sense of elders handing down sublime idealism and wisdom for our entertainment and enlightenment. Behind dodgy titular spelling, Renascence is top-class.
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Jan 31, 2025The made-for-the-dance floor opener “Chasing An Empty Dream” begins with a ridiculously funky bass line from Steve before percussion kicks in, and Simpson’s smooth vocals singing about focus on materialism and a loss of family values to the punchy, syncopated horns and vocal harmonies. .... The pulsating tempo recedes to orchestrated strings in the first of two ballads, “Road to Zion,” sung beautifully by Simpson and enhanced by the band’s other vocalist, sounding like late-night R&B blaring from boomboxes in the ‘70s.
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Jan 31, 2025It’s a heady dose of spiritual funk that leans into the free expression of jazz. It’s an album that kicks hard from the off. .... Closing with the emphatic ‘Carry The Word’, you’re left feeling how defiantly modern, and devoutly unclassifiable Cymande’s music remains.
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Jan 31, 2025Aside from the occasional rote workout (Sweeden, enlivened only by Denys Baptiste’s squalling sax), Renascence finds Cymande firmly in the pocket. [Mar 2025, p.93]
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UncutJan 31, 2025The current lineup lacks that ritualistic Jamaican component - the nyabinghi-style conga playing of the late Pablo Gonsales and the Skatalites-influenced sax of Mike "Bammi" Rose - but there are still great moments. [Jan 2025, p.32]