Further Out Than the Edge

Further Out Than the Edge is the debut studio album by South London jazz band Speakers Corner Quartet, released on June 2, 2023, by OTIH Records. The album features guest appearances from Coby Sey, Kelsey Lu, Tirzah, Confucius MC, Joe Armon-Jones, Léa Sen, Kae Tempest, Sampha, Leilah, James Massiah, Tawiah, Lafawndah, Trustfall, Shabaka Hutchings, and Mica Levi.

Background

Speakers Corner Quartet was formed in 2006. The group derived their name from the open mic spoken word and hip-hop jam night at the Brixton Jamm nightclub where they performed as the house band. Since forming, the group has worked with artists including Sampha, Kae Tempest, Tirzah, Dean Blunt, MF DOOM, Lianne La Havas, Mica Levi, Chris Ofili and Herbie Hancock. The group consists of Alan Ross "Biscuit" Harris on flute, Giles Kwakeulati "Kwake Bass" King-Ashong on drums & percussion, Peter Bennie on bass, and Raven Bush on violin.

The album began production in 2016 when Biscuit started editing recordings of the band's jam sessions, splicing, chopping, looping, and self-sampling the band's instrumentals. Over the next seven years, the group worked with various London musicians that they had previously collaborated with to bring vocal performances and additional instrumentation to the album. All vocals on the album are from guest features.

Release

On February 15, 2023, Speakers Corner Quartet released the album's first single "Can We Do This?" featuring English singer Sampha. On March 22, 2023, the album's second single "Fix" featuring English singer Tirzah was released. The album's third single, "On Grounds" featuring English singer Coby Sey, was released on April 12, 2023. On May 3, 2023, the album's fourth single "Geronimo Blues" featuring English poet Kae Tempest was released. The album's fifth single, "Soapbox Soliloquy" featuring British singer Leilah, was released on May 24, 2023. A deluxe edition of the album was released on November 10, 2023.

Critical reception

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Further Out Than The Edge received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 from 5 critic scores.

Ammar Kalia of The Observer praised the album's instrumentation as "remarkably cohesive" with "dark, downbeat textures" that support the album's features. Writing for Resident Advisor, Fred Garratt-Stanley praised the album's instrumentation as a mix of "sparse, hip-hop-speckled rhythm sections with expressive jazz melodies and flashes of abstract orchestral instrumentation." He also praised the writing from the album's guest appearances for its "politically conscious storytelling, exposing social dilemmas and inequalities with clarity and grit." Clash Magazine's Ana Lamond praised the album's instrumentation, writing: "Melding together the freeing elements of jazz with subtle electronics and poetry, the group’s succinct instrumentation ties everything together into one, cohesive body of work." Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork describes the album as "elegant, reflective, and immaculately constructed" and "reflects the group’s open-mic origins." Writing for Loud and Quiet, Dhruva Balram praised the album's production as "making each of the individual guests’ talents shine even brighter."

Track listing

References