Polar Bear - Be Free
It was during a stressful week indeed that I heard Polar Bear would be back with In Each and Every One. Peepers is easily one of my favorite releases in the past five years, so I put out a prayer before listening to this, "Please be half as good!"
What made Peepers so fantastic was its complete commitment to jazz; its marriage between precision and freedom. The ability of Rochford & company was not at issue, but at the same time, there was never any sense that any track was over-rehearsed.
Now, Be Free marks a departure from where Peepers left us, but it still captures what made the latter so rewarding. I find Be Free a bit more meandering (not a strike against it) in the build up to the third minute, and I am not sure if I would be able to attribute it to Polar Bear were it not for the theme that emerges around 3:40.
Rochford claims their fifth release will be more potent, spacious, and intense. Sure enough, it's streaming at the Guardian. See for yourself. I am sure I will have more to say about this in the coming weeks.