The Chameleon Project
- Funk ‘n’ Space
The Chameleon Project
is based out of the Toronto, Canada area and has established a growing
reputation as one of the most inventive young acts working today. The four
piece’s eight track (excluding two remixes tacked on at the end) release Funk n
Space shows them to be one of the foremost units today in terms of creating a
fusion of various styles into a distinctive and highly unique sound. They are
just as adept with the traditional elements of great music, like melody, as
they are at invoking heady atmospherics with their use of electronica and
spoken word passages in conjunction with one another. There is a strong
underpinning of tradition making these songs go, but the surfeit of
experimentation that colors the songs is equally key to making these tracks
work. It’s never self indulgent however. Even at their most daring, there’s a
mastery of fundamentals that makes this material fly.
Few songs better
exemplify that than the opener “Milky Way”. The aforementioned atmospherics are
a big part of its success, thanks especially to the even handed manner with
which they are handled, but another key part of the success is the chemistry
struck between the band’s instrumentals. The rhythm section, above all else,
makes the groove manifest itself deeply and instantly. It isn’t a track,
however, that browbeats listeners into submission. Instead, it’s spacey
overtones and a well defined funk sound that never overstays its welcome.
“Playhouse” takes things in a different direction. It’s much more superficially
simple, but there’s clear evidence for their versatility They are capable of
bringing out a strong layered disco and funk influence in their music without
ever overburdening the song with too much action. “Steppin’” certainly beefs up
the customarily streamlined approach of reggae music and the form’s influence
is quite heavy in the song, but The Chameleon Project is able to bring that
influence to the fore while still embellishing the track with a number of their
signatures elements – sounds that would have been quite foreign to the genre’s
bygone icons.
They go down the
electronic dance music road in the biggest way yet with the song “Reactor”, but
tweak listeners’ expectations by bringing rock overtones into play. The often
beautiful guitar lines, however, never sound out of place with the synthesizer
work. The following song, “Bigfoot”, steers the band toward much more definite
rock music territory thanks to the thunderous rhythm section, but The Chameleon
Project fortunately avoids the bash and thud so often associated with attempts
to bring these influences into play. “DiMiTri cOde” recalls the earlier
“Reactor” in its invocation of EDM elements, but things are played much
straighter here in that regard and there’s little of the rock guitar poses here
that we heard in the earlier tune. Funk n Space ends with the album’s seeming
centerpiece – the six minute twenty six second “Wako”, a cinematic and bold
confluence of all the aforementioned sounds into a stunning last curtain that
stakes the band’s claim as one of the foremost instrumental acts (sans the
aforementioned spoken word bits – not a significant amount of the album’s
duration) working today.
Montey Zike
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