To think of Moses Boyd as a jazz drummer misses so many beats. Producer, composer, collaborator, shape shifter and innovator, this MOBO award winning musician has been central to the phenomenal ‘nu-jazz’ scene that has exploded out of London town over the last five years. With an influence that spreads far and wide, from his home turf in Sons of Kemet and Nubya Garcia’s band to touring with Sampha and Kesley Lu, it was no surprise that his 2018 debut album ‘Dark Matters’, on his own Exodus Recordings, was seen as a landmark. Rooted in those fluid jazz rhythms ‘Dark Matters’ explored the interactions between grime, funk, electronica, soul, swing, gospel, dance and pop. It was pure chemistry and it demanded a reaction.
Now to fill the slight pause during these pandemic times Moses has gifted us a new video for the lead track on that album ‘Stranger than Fiction’. You may already know the track’s skittering rhythms, chest pounding basslines (courtesy of Theon Cross on the tuba) and the glacial synth surround-sound. The film captures that beauty and menace contradiction stunningly. As Boyd observes ‘it was created to highlight how the world we’re living in can appear so surreal and make you question what is real… as we are seeing with current affairs, I feel it’s a question we all need to constantly fight for and contend with – because sometimes the Truth is Stranger than fiction.
See: Moses Boyd releases new Video for Stranger than fiction
