Selenites, Selenites! Is the first album Jimi Tenor has recorded with the Finnish band that he put together during the Covid pandemic, The album was recorded as part of Jimi's celebrations for turning 60. His Finnish band are Eeti Nieminen, Heikki Tuhkanen, Ekow Alabi Savage, Lauri Kallio. The album was recorded at Lauri Kallio's studio in Kiikala, Finland and at Electric Avenue Studios in Hamburg with Tobias Levin. The album is named after the antlike creatures who inhabit the moon in HG Wells The War Of The Worlds.
The album opens with Selenites a slightly woozy laid-back brass led jazz song for bright glowing nights, mantra like vocals have echoes of Archie Shepp's late 60's work, but without the overt political intent. Some Kind Of Good Thing takes a Philly soul base and adds some more African percussion, making clear they want good things to happen everywhere they go, laid back and lush the gentle groove is infectious.
Sunny Song has gentle flute and birdsong opening for a song that feels very early 70's upbeat soul, trying to catch the joy of waking up to a brand-new day. Universal Harmony is something we are in dire need of currently, the trumpets and trombone drive this on towards a higher consciousness, while keeping the message clear they want to stop war and crime and bring about a better more peaceful loving world.
Alice In Kumasi is imbued with the spirit of Alice Coltrane, the slow shimmering strings and disparate and intricate percussion building a laid-back groove for the central horn to blow through. Looking For The Sunshine has a Hi-life meets afrobeat feel, for this cool brass driven song, hoping to find some sunshine in the darkest of times, let Jimi and his friends make sure you have a good time tonight by dancing along with this album.
Shine All Night features Florence Adooni who whispers in our ears on this Ghanaian Frafra Gospel soul groove, the brass is magnificent with the keyboard undertow, making this into a glorious party anthem, for finding someone to Shine All Night with as you shake and shimmy together.
The album closes with Furry Dice where the brass section seems to have sped up, sounding like the Daktaris, before the spacier breakdown and the call and response vocals with flutes drawing them further out into space locked into that eternal groove.
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