Review: Medlar - Islands (Delusions Of Grandeur)

I remember Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s, Jazz FM etc) telling me years ago that, "Medlar is brilliant" so a follow-up to the debut album is well overdue, but is it the difficult second album?

Well 'Sleep' came out in 2013 on Wolf Recordings so in terms of time you might say it was difficult, even the Medlar collaboration Dele Sosimi on Mr Servini's label Wah Wah 45s was 5 years ago and inbetween times he's released his South London influenced tracks on labels including Full Pupp, West End and Peckham Cuts along with Delusions Of Grandeur.

And with that back ground he's been album to call up some mates to help in out on the 11 track album including Dele, Rebekah Reid, Deevoenay, Finn Peters (one of our all time favs from back in the day & checking my notes, see review HERE) Sam Virdie, Afla Sackey (as in Raz & Afla, see review HERE) and Arnau Obiols.

The opener with Dele is 'Take A Trip' Tropical Afro-post-psych-dub that'll you'll hear everywhere at some stage of the set this summer.   Dele also appears on 'Jungle Ridge' with Arnau Obiols that takes Lonnie Liston Smith (on organ) to the rave (in similar style to some of Charles Petersohn's 'Children Of Zu Zu' EP (see review HERE).

Still in the jungle or Rio Carnival, 'Yeah' is a Finn Peter's special jazz flute gang Peech Boy jazz-disco: NYC!  Talking of NYC, if you're a lovetempo kinda person, 'Luv Interlude' (featuring Kim Anh) takes the 303 Acid up a notch and then in a flash, your in Ibiza (with Andy 'In Plain Sight' Blake).

More trippy jazz is the horn of Sam Virdie on 'Sun Spots' and you can't rule out the appearance of Alfa Sacke of Raz & Afla (see review HERE) on 'Atlantean' as track of the album (and we're not talking about the Leyland double-decker bus chassis - 1958-86 of the same name).

In fact, the album is full of great tracks including the single, 'Dot The T's' is a little bit different for the clever rap by Deevoenay and in terms of 'out there', 'Cicada Dance' is exactly what it says on the tin but a violin solo!  Is that taking the Jean-Luc Ponty?  Rebekah Reid's solo is perfect Transglobal Underground: violin and loop pedal is the new jazz harp.

One of the reasons Dom is so excited about Medlar is that he know how good the Dele Sosimi Meets Medlar featuring Tamar Osborn 'State Of Play' (and the remix EP) is from a couple of years ago.  'Islands' sounds more like a love letter to various places he's visited on holiday with some of his best mates and he was clearly saving it for the BIG album release.

There's a Remix EP on it's way so stay tuned - wonder if he's got Charles Petersohn's number? 

BUY LINK: https://medlar.bandcamp.com/album/islands

Also featured in the Colour & Pitch March Mix by Will Sumsuch.

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Colour and Pitch · Colour and Pitch Sessions with Sumsuch - March 2025

Artist: Medlar

Title: Islands
Release date: 18th April, 2025
Label :Delusions Of Grandeur
Catalog Number: TBC
Format: Digital / Bandcamp