Paroxysm

UK producer, multi-instrumentalist, label boss and composer Scrimshire specialises in a contemporary blend of jazz, soul, funk, and electronic, with Paroxysm his 9th album in a career that began in 2009. It is again a soul jazz album, filled with instantly transporting hybrid music that commands your attention with its excellence, poise and gentle intensity. It’s also an explicitly political album, written at the end of 2022 in response to the “absurdity of the breakdown in the UK government, the horror of the treatment of refugees… and the callous disregard for the trauma being caused to low-income people.” The songs were initially collectively entitled ‘Scream’ and there’s genuine darkness, mourning and frustration here, but that’s just part of the picture. Paroxysm is also full of fire, compassion, hope and potential. Even without its subject matter, it would be an emotive and affecting album; with it, Paroxysm is a powerful piece of work.