The Brighton Beat: Victory At Last

For the musically uninitiated and socially marooned, there is a perpetual sense of danceable immediacy to the big, fun Brighton Beat sound. The exact reason for that is that, at any moment—no, make that every moment—there is the potential to shake-your-money-maker around the moon and back again. Measure by measure by measure, the dance floor is going to get worn down to the studs. It is truly liberating. 

Utilizing a far greater freedom to enlist the studio as yet another instrument in their large, 16-piece arsenal, liberation is what it is all about on Victory At Last. Making it a wildly adventurous successor to such rousing, self produced releases as Live at the Clayton Opera House (2017); Here and Now (2016); their 2015 crowd-funded, sophomore venture Off We Go (whose SRO album release party took place at the Blue Note) and the raw, sparkling debut The Brighton Beat (2011). 

While exotic world rhythms and a hyperactive front line have been a Brighton Beat specialty, this heady ensemble wastes no time kicking into high gear with "Feet First, Head Last," an Afrobeat explosion of horns and choral voices that seriously gets the house party started. "Into the Thick of It" catches fire quickly with its jittery skittery Talking Heads-like vibe and serves to showcase the band's deeper dive into a myriad of musical styles. And though "As Time Marches On" features said front line, it is Nat Ranson's gritty trombone that spearheads the track.

A whole lot of exuberantly talented people create these winding, muscular narratives. Take, for instance, the title track's seductively skanky, loping groove—think prime era Little Feat—and bring it to a funky breakdown reality. Counted off by the seemingly inexhaustible drummer-composer Sammy Wags—who in his spare time produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the entire affair—bassist Derek VanWormer lays down the sleaze as percussionists Matt Graff and Ryan Nava follow suit. The horns sail in as tenor soloist Jon Bean cuts to the fore before everything drops out, leaving Wags to close the show.  

"Tell The Lion's Tale" highlights a deceptively '60s Top-40 feel with a processed sax solo courtesy of Drew Vandewinckel, which soon blows past the musical tailspins of the '70s, '80s and '90s into a more reggae DJ house dub groove that makes your head spin. Vandewinckel blows more cruise-ship-stylishly on the island airs of the mysterious "Conquer The Jungle Robots." Two brief pieces (unusual for this band of expansionists), "We Celebrate" (with the dreamy guitars of Michael Iaciofano and the oceanic dreamscape "From Hear On Out" (sporting an airy alto sax interlude by Mark Zaleski), lead us to the laid back closer "Live The Day Dream." Victory At Last indeed!