Empirical return with their second release with a warning for our troubled times: their forebodingly titled eighth album, Like Lambs: To The Slaughter. Following vibraphonist and long-standing member Lewis Wright’s move to the USA, the award-winning UK jazz ensemble, featuring Nathaniel Facey on alto saxophone, Tom Farmer on double bass and Shaney Forbes on drums, have embraced a more flexible lineup. The trio enlist high-caliber guest artists to expand their sound, with long-time collaborators Ivo Neame on piano and David Preston on guitar lending their distinctive musical voices to the album.
A radical reworking of drummer Shaney Forbes’ unconventional long-form suite, first issued as a self-released EP, the album unfolds as an uninterrupted 51-minute musical story. It draws the listener into an irresistible maelstrom of changing emotional states, reaching its unsettling fever-pitch peak in the title segment of the suite. With this album Empirical have created an astounding and formally cohesive new articulation of their unique sonic world, made possible by their exceptional virtuosity and musical empathy and their daring emotional expressiveness. A standout release even by Empirical’s high standards.
This is our Chosen One.