Some of the best music is that which soundtracks a period of your life. When hearing a riff instantly brings up a memory, feeling, or emotion, and takes you right back to when you first fell in love with it. My Album of the Week is, for me, one of those records.
It’s the brilliant fourth album by Nubiyan Twist – Find Your Flame.
My relationship with this record will always be defined by its presence throughout my summer of 2024. When it was released in May last year, I was just about to graduate university, packing for a sunny Glastonbury festival (where I would also get to see Nubiyan Twist live for the first time), and preparing to start a real job (unfortunately not writing for Waxing Lyrical). With jazz, Afrobeat, R’n’B, electronica, funk and soul all vital to its essence, which are all genres I’ve sunk countless hours into listening to, it was the perfect soundtrack to such a transitional and fondly remembered summer.
Find Your Flame is a versatile showcase of the nine-piece jazz group’s immense talent, which, according to producer, guitarist and bandleader Tom Excell, is a “snapshot” of the group’s “collective influences and journeys throughout the time it was made.”
In the years leading up to its creation, the group navigated powerful individual experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic to becoming a parent, leg amputations to recovering from car accidents, and losing loved ones to forming friendships.
I firmly believe the most beautiful art is inspired by real, powerful human experiences. When you have nine of the best musicians in the UK jazz scene pouring both their strong collective and incredibly unique experiences into a collective album three years in the making, it’s going to be immense.
Find Your Flame is varied yet coherent in its feel, and assured of its identity, stories, and rich history. It’s groovy and fun, whilst also being a brilliant showcase of incredible jazz music. With influences spanning far and wide, it’s a record which deserves to be spun in its entirety.
Another reason this album feels so complete is its roster of brilliant featured artists: We start strong with Nile Rodgers, whose signature guitar riffing features on the unbelievably catchy Lights Out; jazz and soul singer Ria Moran contributes to All The Same; Mercury-nominated Scottish jazz trailblazer corto.alto features on You Don’t Know Me; Afrobeat royalty Seun Kuti makes his mark on Carry Me; genre-fusing experimental artist NEONE the Wonder is on Pray For Me Pt. 1, whilst K.O.G brings Ghanian highlife vibes to Pt. 2; and, last but not least, Malian singer/musician Mamani Keïta contributes on closing track, Slow Breath.
It’s an eclectic line up, yet one which perfectly portrays the influences, global grooves and genres heard throughout Find Your Flame. It features artists all the way from multi-grammy awardees to up-and-coming local British jazz singers, but with every artist providing just as much value as the last.
A key reason I chose to explore Find Your Flame as my album this week, is because a more recent release has inspired me to dive back into it in the last month or so.
Remix albums are not a new concept to Nubiyan Twist. Their (also brilliant) debut self-titled release from 2015 was remixed into a collection of ten tracks. Electronic influences have clearly always been a core part of Nubiyan Twist’s sound, and they no doubt have a love and admiration for the UK Soundsystem culture.
Recently, Tom Excell and vocalist Aziza Jaye produced and released a thumping remix album of Find Your Flame, titled NT Soundsystem. It sees songs from the original recordings remixed in styles including Dub, Jungle and UK Garage. It’s an inspired reimagining of the original record, and, similarly to Find Your Flame, features some of the best musicians from the genres it explores; renowned drummer and MC Horseman features on a D’n’B version of Battle Isn’t Over, and Skillful Kxng brings a Dancehall flair to Woman.
NT Soundsystem is a bass-boosted, dub-infused, brilliant reimagination of the original work, and, perhaps more relevant to this feature, made me appreciate Find Your Flame even more.
Just like the rawer, jazzier Find Your Flame, NT Soundsystem feels like a snapshot of Excell and Jaye’s influences, experiences and inspirations during the period they were creating it.
Being on the journey of discovering Find Your Flame when it was very first released, and now delving into the remixes through NT Soundsystem, alongside all the experiences I’ve had both with these records and personally, has made me love and admire both tenfold more. Nubiyan Twist are a perfect example of how the very best art comes from honest, lived and real experiences. I can’t wait to see where Nubiyan Twist might go next, and where I will be when it happens.
Waxing Lyrical 