Higher, faster, further, more! Following his Mercury Prize-nominated debut album, Scottish multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Liam Shortall – alias corto.alto – really steps it up a gear on Some Small Fortune. Alongside what are arguably Glasgow’s most talented jazz musicians as his backing band, he’s invited a whole host of vocalists into the studio, effortlessly expanding his already diverse soundscape to include a few more genres. Naturally, the opulent intro calls for a classical string quartet, before anaiis transforms the intense ‘April’ into a futuristic, jazzy R&B ballad. The driving single ‘Go’, featuring a guest rap from Nigerian MC Vector, is reminiscent of Roots Manuva on a J Dilla beat, only to immediately take the built-up tempo completely out of the song with the following track ‘Nothing’ (featuring Eriff).
But the next shift follows hot on its heels, as ‘Don’t Listen’ creates a party atmosphere with its bold brass section. Right up to the final track featuring Jacob Alon, this second corto.alto album is a wild ride through a wide variety of moods and musical genres, at times almost overflowing with ideas per song. Although this hasn’t exactly resulted in a cohesive album, it is precisely this unpredictability and extreme versatility that make ‘Some Small Fortune’ so appealing. However disparate the individual tracks may sound, the album repeatedly succeeds in blending the warm sound of analogue instruments with electronic machine sounds, whilst at the same time paying very careful attention to even the smallest details.
Some Small Fortune
