Description
It’s hard to sort Hazmat Modine into a neat musical category – they handle their kitchen sink of influences amazingly well. Their work incorporates the best elements of African, Eastern European, Caribbean and American musical traditions; blues, reggae, jazz and Mongolian throat singing – they do it all. This fourth album, Box of Breath, showcases their soulful, technically excellent musicianship – a wash of emotional, joyous sound that’s hard not to like.
All the songs on Box of Breath are concerned with issues of mortality and humanity, the tracks themselves parables of human experience condensed into tin pan alley song format. With Wade’s Schumann’s signature voice and harmonica, Joe Daley’s undulating sousaphone, along with classic horns, assorted strings, percussion and shimmering vocal harmonies, Box of Breath is a collection of the traditional American ensemble experience with a twist – and could well be the band’s magnum opus thus far.
