Music In Unusual Spaces is an album by guitarist Matt Clark and his new quartet with Charlotte Keeffe on trumpet, Ozzy Moysey on double bass, and James Edmunds on drums. Music In Unusual Spaces was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Nick Endacott-Gibb on location and at Wizard Audio, Hove, United Kingdom, and was released on December 10, 2021

The title Music in Unusual Spaces refers to:

• Space (as in distance): The musicians were recorded in different places.
• Space (as in time): The musicians did not play or record their parts at the same time.
• Space (as in location): The musicians did not play their parts in a studio but in a bar with a street microphone, in a tunnel, and by a canal.

In short, it was quite an unusual setup, but the EP manages to be more than just an interesting concept, as the quartet clearly pulled it off and made a strongly gripping EP.

---

Jazz can be a perfect representation of modernity or of a city, its noises, its perpetual agitation, and its effervescence. Strangely enough, Music in Unusual Spaces takes its part in this heritage—”strangely enough”, since it may not have been thought so without the city noises captured during its recording.

While listening to the album, the music seems muffled, scattered, and disconnected, evoking a feeling and a state of mind, not really a jazzy representation of the heart of a city. Even when the music is agitated, it is still more reminiscent of internal turbulence and annoyance than of the hustle and bustle of a city.

However, as the recording naturally emphasizes the sounds of life, the listener may start to rethink the way they feel about the city and their life. What are they? What have they been lately? Suddenly, we easily find ourselves describing the last few months as “muffled, scattered, and disconnected,” with “much more time spent listening to our feelings than taking action.”

Additionally, these muffled sounds also remind us of the city life behind double glazing, attenuating the agitation to simple, muffled noises. Thus, Music in Unusual Spaces passes as the perfect evocation of a city trapped in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, both in its evocation and experience.

This is why this EP is a success; the consistency of the album does not lie in its setup alone. The consistency comes from what the music evokes us with the immediacy that is so specific to art. We can perceive and musically feel what our cities are like today, as well as our lives, both external and internal. This soundtrack is the perfect remedy to look back peacefully at 2021.

Music In Unusual Spaces – Info

Tracklisting
1. Holmes’ Return (10:01); 2. Inhibition Vanishes (6:17); 3. End Of The Beginning (6:29)

Matt Clark: guitar; Charlotte Keeffe: trumpet; Ozzy Moysey: double bass; James Edmunds: drums

Matt and James were recorded live at The Bees Mouth, Hove on 17th September 2021. The performance took place in the bar by the front windows, which were left open a little and a microphone placed in the gap. This way, both the music and the ambient sounds of the street during the performance were recorded.

Ozzy was recorded on Trafalgar Street, Brighton, in the tunnel under the station concourse on 6th October 2021. The mic was placed close to the bass, but with a wide pan to capture passersby and moving traffic.

Charlotte was recorded by the canal at Camden Lock, London on October 8th, 2021. The acoustics were fantastic – reflecting off the water and the apartment block opposite, creating a natural delay. The microphone was wide panned, but held facing the building opposite, to maximize the capture of reflected sounds from nearby.

Music In Unusual Spaces was released on December 2021 // Matt Clark Music – Rehabilitation Records MCM0023

---