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Flying Broken Form builds on Sean Haefeli’s distinctive fusion of jazz, soul, and hip-hop, augmented by synth textures, intricate harmonies, jabbing horn lines, and penetrating grooves. Through an immersive soundscape, dynamic musicianship and poetic lyricism, the album delivers thoughtful reflections on love, identity, and social consciousness.
The band reflects Berlin’s diverse international music community, from long-time New Yorker, Italian bassist, Francesco Beccaro, to dynamic Ukrainian trumpeter, Dima Bondarev and Berlin’s stalwart saxophonist Ben Kraef, to the fiery Nigerian drummer, Clinton Agu and Germany’s acclaimed Magro. The collective experience as sidemen, spanning Kurt Rosenwinkel to Popa Chubby and Fave, inform the music’s ability to morph, eluding explicit definition, while delivering visceral artistic statements.
Opening with the serene instrumental, “Awakening,” the album surges forward, “drop, new aesthetic / drop, energetic / drop, copacetic.” Immersing the listener in a vivid sound, Sean floats, raps, and sings over shifting harmonies, culminating in a deftly rising piano solo, before the coda shifts into a spacey multilayered beat.
With confident swagger, Flying Broken Form celebrates the joyousness of music, “keeping my love in focus, taking my highs in doses / feeling the impulse, watch the divine become ferocious.” Yet, the vision is aspirational, a negotiation between dreams and sobering reality.
“Battle Cry” enters with a gospel-like melody over an analog synth and stripped down beat. The song continues as piano lines echo alongside synth chords, with powerful lyrics growing into the refrain,“fighting, praying, swearing, debating, can you tell me we’re going to find a way?”
There’s an unresolved, inconclusive character to themes raised, leaving the impression of both soaring and at the same time, being utterly damaged. The music moves effortlessly between plaintive, soulful, and smooth, polished execution. Of the title, Sean poses the question, “for how else should I have learned to fly in a world so broken?”
Still, ambitions remain lofty. Music reaches for the sky, expansive, pulled into a world where conviction is sustained, even as “bodies wash up on the shoreline, seagulls sing soliloquies.” The album maintains resolve, both fight and surrender, “lead me to the water, lead me to your battle cry, no one knows how this will end.”
Composed of the album’s densest lyrics, “The Hustle” juxtaposes gliding
saxophone lines against a syncopated groove, as descending chords move both familiar and re-contextualized. The propulsive chorus feels uplifting, even while the text, “I can’t feel my own breath some days, disappear in the struggle,” tells a different story. And yet, faced with the grind, there’s an enduring, undefeated quality. As testified on the outro, “ride to the beat, make that your compass, make that your guide.” Amid tight horn riffs and a booming chorus of vocals, the album reinforces this testament to the redeeming power of music, the potential to lead and ultimately, transform.
The bespoke cover artwork for the album was created by Berlin painter, Anne Bengard, whose work deals with issues around connection, intimacy and fetishization. Her visual language uses polarities to explore social issues, norms and stereotypes, aiming to create a sense of sensuality and tension which asks questions rather than make statements. |
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