Dylan Hicks & Small Screens: Modern Flora

In years gone by, record stores would sometimes categorise their albums by genre, so there would be sections on jazz, pop and singer-songwriter, etc. Modern Flora from Dylan Hicks & Small Screens is the sort of album that could cause the record store owner a problem, as the album would comfortably fit into all those categories. Even from a 2024 perspective, a 1970s-style singer-songwriter backed by a jazz nonet is not a natural fit in our genre-specific, box-ticking world.

Hicks, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, writes unusual multi-part compositions featuring whip-smart distinctive lyrics set amongst jazz arrangements. Those arrangements are collaborative, with group members contributing ideas and enhancing the five tracks. This is the group's second album, following on from Airport Sparrows (Soft Launch Records, 2022). Alongside Hicks on vocals and piano, the experienced nonet consists of saxophonists Christopher Thomson and Bryan Murray, cellist Michelle Kinney, guitarist Zacc Harris, bassist Charlie Lincoln, drummer Peter Hennig, trumpeter Elaine Burt and trombonist JC Sanford.

The album begins with the splendid "If Spring Comes Like They Say." Twin tenor saxophones and gentle swirling horns combine with guitar in a melodic, unhurried opening before Kinney's expressive cello break. We are four and a half minutes into the track before Hicks' vocal. He grabs attention immediately with his opening lyric: "The retreat left a bad taste in my mouth, which was mostly blood." Thomson's lush 11-minute arrangement, is superbly executed, letting in plenty of space alongside soulful sax, guitar layers and fine trumpet and trombone work (see the Youtube).

Hicks' vocal delivery and some of his lyric phrasing is reminiscent of Paul Simon, especially in the lighthearted "The Head of a Dog" with its bright contrasting rhymes. The track is enlivened by Thomson's alto and Murray's tenor sax and has a neat groove from bass, drums and cello. "The Unicellular Spore," arranged by guitarist Harris, builds with light stately swing; saxophones and guitar combine around inventive lyrics and an unlikely singalong chorus.

The title track is an instrumental arranged by trombonist Sanford. A mix of improvised and composed, saxophones, horns, cello and bass layers swagger and gradually come into focus, leading to a melodic guitar solo from Harris before the horns return. Another Sanford arrangement, the ten minutes of "All Thumbs," closes the album. The vocal sections are interspersed among changing combinations of instrumentation that come to the fore briefly before receding. Hicks' lyrics hold the attention in this swaying and quirky love song ending with: "I don't wanna crowd you, but now we've reached our three-month anniversary, I'm starting to use my normal speaking voice more often when we're together. Have you detected this change?"

The album is all the better for being unconventional. Hicks' lyrics have a pleasing mix of the emotionally direct and obscure observational that pique your curiosity. Hicks wrote the initial drafts of these arrangements, but the final result came from collaboration. The songs unfurl gently, surrounded by lavish instrumentation that gives time and space to improvisations and solos. The offbeat lyrics, set against the mood and textures from the nonet, provide a compelling contrast that makes this album a fascinating and engaging listen.

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