Tomorrow A Flower

Muito Kaballa return in style with a refined modern sound on Tomorrow A Flower for the London-based imprint Batov Records, blending indie pop, soul, hip hop, jazz, Brazilian rhythms, and West African grooves. Initially the solo project of tenor saxophonist and composer Niklas Mündemann, Muito Kaballa has grown into a full blown ensemble, based between Cologne and Berlin, championed across BBC 6 Radio Music, by the likes of Deb Grant, Tom Ravenscroft, and Nubya Garcia, The Radio 2 Jazz Show with Jamie Cullum, Seattle indie institution KEXP, Music Is My Sanctuary, and loved for their energetic live shows. Tomorrow A Flower builds on the success of the ensemble's acclaimed ‘Like a River’ album, whilst moving away from the previous album’s strong jazz leanings, towards a more direct, contemporary yet sophisticated pop feel. Still oozing with soul, and nods to not only African funk and hip hop but strong modern references, including electronic pop favourites Jungle By Night and cosmic groove merchants Khruangbin. 

The album commences with lead single “Loving You”, a heartwarming yet almost melancholy groover simultaneously recalling both classic soul, and the contemporary soul of electronic maverick Jitwan’s “Opendoors”. Held to earth by a steady mid-tempo snare-and-tambourine rhythm, whilst the irresistible harmonising between voice and horn threatens to lift it off the ground as the vocal slowly unfolds. “In My Delir” follows perfectly. Featuring South African singer and KEXP fave, Petite Noir, and shaped in collaboration with Muito guitarist Benjamin Schneider, the song opens with a beguiling guitar riff that melts through the speakers like a disintegrating highlife loop. Shuffling Brazilian snares lead us into the song proper, where Petite questions the gap between his dreaming mind and loveworn heart. Destined to soundtrack the petal picking of unrequited lovers. The pace picks up on “Flowers Only Grow After the Rain Falls”. A highly energetic merging of Muito’s Afrobeat roots with swinging soul and electronic touches. Almost reminiscent of Nina Simone’s Seeline Woman, if not for the punk-meets-pop vocalising on a search for harmony and benefits of friction.

On the epic album standout, “Make Me Bigger”, guest vocalist Jermain Peterson asks the listener to “take my hand and make me bigger”, on a stirring ode to friendship and its power to overcome fears and self-doubt. West African grooves and Afrobeats (yes, with an ‘s’) support coiling vines of jazz, soul, and pop that will no doubt appeal to fans of SAULT, Michael Kiwanuka and Yazmin Lacey.

Tomorrow A Flower closes on high with “Too Good For Me”, a playful and irresistibly catchy exploration of insecurity, intertwining Afrobeat, boogie, pop and punk into a future dancefloor smash somewhere between the Paradise Garage and the Shrine.