British jazz pianist and composer Greg Foat is a musical magpie, flitting effortlessly between soul-jazz and ethereal ambient. For his latest album, »Interstellar Fantasy«, he teams up with London-based drummer Ayo Salawu to explore the golden age of library music from the 70s and 80s. Commissioned by Sonoton, the self-proclaimed »largest library of music for film, television and advertising« based in Munich, Germany.
Foat works his way through his arsenal of analogue synthesizers while Salawu provides downbeat grooves. The result is at times New Age-y, at other times it tips over into cotton-soft jazz that borders on easy listening. At times the cosmic undertones slip into in the foreground, sometimes a subtle funkiness. »Interstellar Fantasy« is a concept album about library music, and it’s a lot of fun for fans of meta music. Everything fits together perfectly, from the album title to the cosmic cover art to the last elastically stretched note from the analogue synthesiser.
