The New York collective Snarky Puppy have made an album unlike any of their earlier ventures, with Holland’s genre-crossing Metropole Orkest. Sylva is a refined and cohesive orchestral suite rather than a collection of quirky groove vehicles, and also the band’s first work for a major label. Fans can relax, however: this isn’t a mainstream smoothing out out of an inimitably original band’s rough edges. assist/leader Michael League’s long-term dream has been to take a composer’s personal vision into a bigger and more cinematic soundscape without abandoning Snarky trademarks such as catchy soul-jazz horn hooks, loose improv and dancefloor funk. There are six movements, each inspired by forests around the world that have left a deep impression on League. Gliding high strings lines and a cello ostinato turn into silkily intricate horn melodies; coolly riffing groovers build to funky, Jazz Crusaders-like dances; humming string meditations pass through pensive keyboard solos into gentle waltzes; harmonies reminiscent of Marcus Miller’s work with Miles Davis colour the graceful melodic transformations of the 19-minute finale, The Clearing. League has boldly used Orkest’s mix of precision and hipness in an unmistakeably Snarky way.
