Manfredo Lament’s latest EP Movement, Saga & Fable radiates with energy; it savours the antique of jazz, whilst bouncing from soothing synths to psychedelic echoes. Founding members Kurt and Gabe caught up with John Troughton on Up for It! on Wednesday to tell us all about it.

Our Independent Artist of the Week Manfredo Lament is best characterised as shapeshifting. Their jazz-soul adjacent sound is improvisational, and their cast members transform at every gig as they piece together a compositional mosaic of jazz infused synths, amongst a buoyant, lively backdrop, with echoes here and there of psychedelic jazz – yet, all while maintaining a retro sheen.

Their latest EP Movement, Saga & Fable is the fully improvised live debut from this Eora-based band, headed by Kurt Lam and Gabriel Haslam, which propels a rapidly evolving jazz infused sound that exudes movement.

“We did one rehearsal at my house and it was just so amazing. We played and we were like, oh my God, we didn’t record that. That was the whole album right there. We were like, “okay, we have to record the live show because this is going to be good”. Then we did. … I think it was the second gig we played together, the four of us.”

The first track ‘Samurai Champloo’ is energetic, yet soothing. It cascades through textural ambient expressions, synth and sax melodies, and polyrhythmic drum solos.

“It was more fun to keep everything live because Ableton looping, I don’t know, it was a lot of constraints. … We got inspired by Foshe & Bentley, because they record all their albums live at the venue. So we knew through them that live albums were possible. We recorded it through the mixing desk.”

Manfredo Lament’s Movement, Saga & Fable has an improvisational elasticity that makes it an exciting listen, as they bounce through a kaleidoscopic composition.

Catch them playing at the Oxford Art Factory sometime soon (TBA), or see them every week in August at their residency at the Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern (TBA). In the meantime, stream their latest EP Movement, Saga & Fable below.