Urbanity by Urbanity

Remember FM radio stations that played so-called "beautiful music"? Back when I was young and living in Southern California, we had station such as KBIG and KOST that played a lot of easy listening music, the sort of music that was supposed to soothe you and take you away from all your problems. I know all about this because my dad always listened to this type of music when he came home from work. He had a hell of a nasty commute, fifteen miles that took him an hour on nasty Orange County freeways, and he needed KOST and KBIG to decompress when he came home. It was little more than elevator music, of course, but it's weird that these radio stations don't seem to exist anymore.

I think for the most part "beautiful music" has been replaced by smooth jazz. The "relaxed groove" and "melodic interplay" of the smooth jazz group Urbanity definitely fits into this genre. Normally I would cut a wide path around this kind of music because it just doesn't excite me that much. But something happened today, a relatively troubling news day, of course, and I've been in sort of a foul mood for the last 24 hours. Urbanity, the eponymous album from Urbanity, wasn't even near the top of the review pile and yet I felt compelled to play it again because I just didn't want to listen to something angry, agitated or edgy. I can't believe it, but it totally worked. This album really mellowed me out.

I've reviewed Urbanity before, tackling their last album Urban Soul back in July 2017. I felt a little disappointed with that title since I had expected something more funky, more Sly and the Family Stone than Larry Carlton. "Urban Soul did grow on me, despite the initial disappointment of having to critique more lite jazz," I wrote, and my ultimate recommendation was to have these two Australian gentlemen--guitarist Albare and keyboardist Phil Turcio--ditch the drum machines and the synthesizers for a modern sound. I feel like they've done exactly that on Urbanity--Turcio is still handling all the programming, including percussion, but it seems he has a much better grasp of it now, switching to a more natural and modern beat.

The real reason I like Urbanity, as well as Urbanity, is because it's hypnotic if you're in the right frame of mind. This is really well-recorded lite jazz, with plenty of air and space and depth. Yeah, we audiophiles like to call that soundstaging, but here it's more of a knowing embrace, an aural first (or second) martini. It relaxes me, and I don't even have a nasty commute to deal with since I work from home. My dad, who's about to turn 88 in a couple of months and hasn't had to deal with a daily commute in 30 years, would probably like it too.