Crisis & Opportunity, Vol. 2 - Peaks (feat. Matt Dal Din, Ashton Sellars & Aron Ottignon)

New Zealand-born, London-based drummer Myele Manzanza is not one to rest on his laurels. Coming to prominence as a founding member of soul group Electric Wire Hustle before collaborating with Detroit house legends Theo Parrish and Amp Fiddler, he has released three albums of intuitively rhythmic jazz compositions since his 2012 debut, One. Moving to London only months before the pandemic lockdowns, Manzanza soon set himself a challenge: to write and release five new albums. “It was inspired out of necessity to keep myself sane,” he tells Apple Music. “I’m at my happiest when I’m in the middle of a creative project and I’m a very eclectic musician, so this five-album project is an attempt at giving my genre influences the space they deserve.”

All entitled Crisis & Opportunity, in reference to their pandemic-induced state of making, Vol. 1 was released earlier this year and plays as a paean to the London jazz scene. Vol. 2 – Peaks now features a band of fellow New Zealand expats and explores the space between jazz improvisation and hip-hop sampling processes, via collaged sections of an extended jam session. The result is 13 tracks that traverse everything from the woozy melodies of “Sit in Your Discomfort” to the frenetic time signatures of “Back in the Days,” and an homage to his musician father in “African Folk Song.” “We’re planting the New Zealand flag out here with this album, as well as allowing a freer side of the music to come through,” Manzanza says. Read on for his in-depth thoughts on the album, track by track.

“Peaks & Ferns”
“I wrote the beginnings of this piece five years ago when there was a petition by the Prime Minister at the time, John Key, to change the New Zealand flag. It created political battle lines between a fern design, which the right gravitated to, and a “red peak” design that paid more recognition to Indigenous roots. There was a cultural split between two visions for where the country could go, and in the track that is reflected in the instrumental tension and release.“

“Sit in Your Discomfort”
“I wanted to write something deliberately awkward and difficult for this track, to create a similar sense of tension from ‘Peaks & Ferns.’ It’s in an odd time signature and the main riff is very atonal. I am referencing being in lockdowns and being forced to deal with the uncomfortable parts of ourselves that we might have ignored when life was normal. It’s about confronting these aspects of who we are and hopefully working through them to get to a better place.”

“The People’s Changes”
“Both ‘The People’s Changes’ and ‘The People’s Shadow’ came out of an improvised jam during the recording session. We picked a vamp from a random jazz standard, reharmonized it and then let that loop and evolve into something original. Thematically, it was inspired by the great uprising and awareness surrounding issues of race during summer 2020. I was observing how the culture was changing and as much as there was tension, there was also a lot more hope, which is reflected in the music.”

“The People’s Shadow”
“‘The People’s Shadow’ is the dark side of things. It’s the negative aspect to those cultural conversations and divisions—part of the yin and yang of the world that we live in. Where ‘The People’s Changes’ is a lot more upbeat and hopeful, ‘Shadow’ is chaotic and wilder. It made sense to put these two pieces together, since they both evolved as the band was playing, and so they are opposite sides of the same coin.”

“To the Before Time”
“This track goes with ‘When We Could Dance Together,’ as they’re both reminiscing about a sense of joyous community from the perspective of being locked down. This is a slightly mournful number because I was wondering if we were ever going to be able to be in a room together again. They similarly both came out of an open jam session and, afterwards, I reversed the sound of the guitar and the bass, while the drums are playing naturally recorded, which creates this sense of a rewind.”

“When We Could Dance Together”
“This is a more joyous flipside with a very Brazilian-influenced rhythm going on that I hope people can dance and get a little bit loose to. When I was producing it, the feel of the track really reminded me of some of the great dance parties that I’ve been to over the years, back when we could dance all together.”

“African Folk Song”
“My father used to run African drumming workshops in Wellington when I was a kid, and this joyous melody is drawn from what he would sing then. Jay Phelps reinterpreted it for the horn arrangements and the groove then operates in a rhythmic 12/8 structure, which happens a lot in African music. There’s an Afrobeat or highlife feel that comes in later, which is also inspired by the music that my father played in his live band, so the track is really a tribute to him.”

“Back in the Days”
“This is based on a 13/8 pattern, which is an incredibly unconventional rhythmic structure. The harmony and melody are floating over the top of this busy rhythm, and musically that creates an interesting tension. When I was composing, it brought to mind a more innocent time when I was in high school and my biggest issues were whether a girl liked me, as opposed to all of the stressful, chaotic things that we have to deal with as adults. I was reminiscing with gratitude on the life that I’ve had so far.”

“A Night in Berlin”
“During a trip to record in Berlin, our guitarist, Ashton, had his birthday and we gathered some friends to celebrate. It was, in many ways, the best night I’ve had in years. I felt a really great sense of joy just being in the company of good friends after having missed that for so long. I wanted to attribute something to that night, as well as the special place that Berlin holds in my heart, since it’s been very good to me musically.”

“Two Chords & the Truth”
“This was the very first piece of our open jam session and it set the tone for what was to come. I gave the band two chords—I think it’s G minor and A minor—and said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ It's a very simple compositional structure with a lot of room for the musicians to contribute in the moment. It was a great reminder of how music doesn’t necessarily have to be hard. The raw ingredients are simple—it’s just a few good chords and being as true to it as we can.”

“Quinnies for the Boys”
“I’m taking the piss a little bit with this title, since I’m using jock ways of phrasing to talk about a musical term called a quintuplet—the ‘quinnies.’ A quintuplet is subdividing a beat into five in a way that creates an interesting rhythmic swing. A lot of drummers like to show off that they know their quintuplets, and so this is me having a laugh at myself by recording a tune full of them.”

“Ancestral Mathematics”
“I was listening to a lot of gnawa when I wrote this, which is a Moroccan style of music full of interesting rhythmic structures. I was really inspired by its way of conceptualizing rhythm and when I called it ‘Ancestral Mathematics,’ I am referring to how there’s a strong mathematical structure going on rhythmically, but it’s also a music that has been played for millennia by the people of that region.”

“Crisis & Opportunity”
“The thing that will unite all of the albums is the composition ‘Crisis & Opportunity,’ which I’m arranging in different ways. On the Vol. 1 version, I recorded it with the London band in an arrangement that was more rhythmically free. With this one, I wanted it to feel a lot more grounded and in the pocket. We kept a cruising groove and let it build. I wanted the piece to feel like this band and the way that we have been developing our own musical language.”