Extra-Deluxe-Supreme

The nine-piece New York-based ensemble Hazmat Modine may just be my favourite American roots band and their third studio album brilliantly illustrates why. The opener, ‘Another Day’, sets out their stall expansively, an extraordinary gumbo of country blues, New Orleans brass, zydeco, gospel and Memphis soul with the added twist of a Jamaican rocksteady beat. Led by singer, songwriter and harmonica player extraordinaire Wade Schuman, it's a remarkably eclectic sound, the blues and R&B roots embellished with all kinds of improbable flourishes, not least in the deep and fruity sound of Joe Daley's tuba, an instrument seldom heard in popular music outside of Mardi Gras parades, but which here takes the place of a conventional bass. But the surprises don’t end there: the throat singing of the Tuvan group Alash Ensemble is heard to dramatic effect on the lascivious ‘Your Sister’ and the bibulous gospel-blues ‘Whiskey Bird’, while ‘Arcadia (Coffee, Salt & Laces)’ is lent a desert blues vibe by the addition of Tim Keiper on ngoni. At times Schuman's voice sounds uncannily like Tom Waits, although ultimately a more apt analogue as a fellow American roots adventurer with a global twist might be Ry Cooder.