★★★★☆
It’s widely accepted that where we start and where the road ends couldn’t be further from each other. Not according to Tom Misch. Returning to the studio for the first time since the ‘Quarantine Sessions’, his latest album ‘Full Circle’ walks you around the innermost thoughts of Misch’s musical and personal development. Gone are the student-loan living, basement beats and meandering jams of the ‘Beat Tape’ era; instead, we are presented with a matured version of Misch, who, since his arrival on the scene in the early 2010s, has “been lost and found”. In all this development and forward-looking, ‘Full Circle’ suggests that everything that has come before might yet come back around.
Opening ‘Full Circle’ with ‘Flowers In Bloom’, Misch eases long-time listeners in with a reassuringly familiar soundscape – with reverb-soaked guitar loops and delicate percussive inflections serving as reminders that this ‘start’ is a little more than the end of his previous journey. As we journey around the circle, Misch’s tracks evolve into something more emotionally engaged than anything that has come before. ‘Slow Tonight’ dims the lights, strips away the noise and slows everything down to cut to what matters most to the artist who has been away from the studio for so long.
The relationship between Misch and his family is an ever-present thread, weaving throughout the thirty-year-old’s latest project. Sequential tracks ‘Sisters With Me’ and ‘Old Man’ both expose the core of Misch’s intent with this album in evaluating his place in the world. The laid-back, spacey guitar chords provide the space for a poignant tribute to his sisters in his lyrics, fading out to a repeated sentiment of how the “water runs deep” – a testament to those who have surrounded him throughout his life. In turn, Misch pivots to the future, placing parallel imagery of his own personal ageing with that of those around him. Having released this as a single last year, ‘Old Man’ beautifully balances Misch’s imagined future as a father with his reflections on previous experiences of becoming like his own father. A delicate, hazy track laced with a warmly nostalgic touch – ‘Old Man’ is set to be a standout tune amongst Misch’s best work.
Full Circle continually matures, with the introduction of natural soundscapes on the numbers ‘Fear Can’t Hurt Any More Than A Dream’ and ‘Running Away’. It’s a slower and more contemplative effort than any of Misch’s previous jazz-infused neo-soul, with the latter still leaning on his characteristic glassy guitar tones and quick changes, yet replacing the ‘Dilla style’ with an honest approach entailing quite how “scared” this new chapter of Misch’s life has made him.
Before now, Misch had cemented himself in his signature sound, and so to move away from this comes as an unexpected and difficult decision. ‘Echo From The Flames’ encapsulates this best, alluding to him burning his past works to allow space for something new. The time Misch spent in Brazil between albums is bursting from the seams here; the Latin inflections build a groove undeniably Misch-esque, yet his sustained violin harmonies propel us around the ‘circle’ of his works to land his sound in uncharted territory. Layers build upon each other to take you away into an instrumental land that allows you to explore the circle of your own life.
A stand-out track lies in the opening of the second half of this circle. ‘Goldie’ is a confident work, propelled by a bright and optimistic tone, yet remaining simple in its soundscape. This simplicity will, inevitably, draw criticism from those wanting a groundbreaking new project. If it’s the complex counter-melodies and musical prowess of Misch that critics desire, he’s already provided them with plenty of sensational work in his collaborative album ‘What Kinda Music’ with Yussef Dayes. ‘Full Circle’ had to be different, and it had to be refreshing for a musician so caught up in the demands of an industry, which both fuelled and drained him.
Closing the circle on ‘Days Of Us’ with an oscillating saxophone paired with a deeply warm, reminiscent vocal, Misch has returned to the studio to beautifully straddle nostalgia and development. Wherever the circle leads Misch, it’s a welcome return to see his name on our screens once again – hopefully he takes this on the road to a stage near us soon. The circle ends, not quite at the beginning, but with an acknowledgement that the journey is not possible without everything which has come before.
Joseph Madden
Image: ‘Full Circle’ Official Album Cover