– Michael, you sure?
– I am. I’m always so happy with records that put a spell on you.
– Some voodoo vibe?
– No Santeria mysticism. Don’t need that for a fuckin‘ great ride.
– So what’s so good about it?
– Sebastian Rochford always skippin‘ the agenda for his band.
– Meanin‘?
– Polar Bear doesn’t ever swim twice in the same river. Ha.
– Are we goin‘ philosophical?
– Nah. Well, it all starts with a praise of love and light like in the late sixties, remember?
– Yep, all the cars were going crazy and transcendental… kinda „music is the healing force of the universe“?!
– Mmhm, Seb’s pickin‘ up some of those old vibes, and he recently spent a lot of time out in nature. California.
– Field recordings are part of the game, and not in that new age way …
– Killer grooves suspended in air, distant echoes, saxophones strolling in the hinterland, a touch of the Caribeans.
– Rather short sax lines, too, and I do hear this preciseness of the rhythm.
– It never loses the grip. It’s minimal on a grand scale, it’s, well, how did they say in old times, panavision, yes, panavision.
– „Same As You“ is simply a gorgeous album. Organic. A distant cousin of Weather Report’s „Heavy Weather“.
– Ya, but in its own peculiar way. Airy. Dancefloor with a view. Precisely cut in all its looseness.
– Turn the lights down low.