‘Niffty Teddy’ is the first single from the quartet's upcoming album 'Honey & Groat', which is set for release on October 14th. The track is a silky smooth blend of groove, jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music. The soothing sound of Fender Rhodes and dreamy synthesizers combined with saxophone melodies, raw drumbeat, and sub-bass delights create a vibey and catchy nu-jazz tune.
Trained in the theoretical rigours of classical music and jazz, experts on their instruments, and brought up on a diet of hip-hop culture, techno, and house club scenes, Matthieu Llodra and Arthur Donnot - composers of KUMA – love to challenge their musical boundaries.
To free oneself from a theoretical straitjacket acquired during one's studies is a challenge that many young musicians must face. Einstein once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”. The way ‘Niffty Teddy' and ‘Honey & Groat’ have been composed truly encapsulates the meaning of this quote.
In the spaces opened up by the harmonic construction of the keyboards, the saxophone flourishes, sometimes airy, sometimes sweet, never talkative. There is a particular texture in Arthur Donnot’s sound, in the balance between the vibration of the reed and the passage of the breath through the instrument, which itself has a timbre that is so close to the human voice, something which seduces not by trying to impress, but through its sensuality.
“This tune was written during moody times. The main purpose behind this piece was simplicity, honesty, bright and sunny vibes to counter the darkness.”
I found in my phone a simple drum loop that Maxence had sent me a few months earlier. I added to that warm Fender-Rhodes chord changes and sub-bass to make it all big. And it was done. I wrote and produced the entire track in 30 minutes. I’ve pictured the melody as an easy learning and feel-good anthem for people to hopefully sing along to.”
The LP is a 9-track production that embodies the diverse and dynamic nature of KUMA sound and features talented young jazz instrumentalists such as trumpet players Shems Bendali (FR) and Zacharie Ksyk (FR), vocalist and songwriter Léo Chambet, and guitar knight Cyril Moulas (FR).
“For Honey & Groat, we wanted to delve into the "ner details of sound textures. It is the result of compositions recorded and mixed in three and a half intensive weeks in the studio. An exploration of our individual or common universes with one keyword: sound”, says the band.
“'Honey & Groat' is a symbolic and real part of the bear's diet (KUMA means bear in japanese). We called it Honey & Groat because we fed on our reality and our imagination to create this work.”
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