Album Review: MicroCosmo from Micro Corgi

Album:  MicroCosmo
Artist:  Micro Corgi
Website:  https://microcorgi.com/
              https://microcorgi.bandcamp.com/album/microcosmos

The New York City based outfit MicroCorgi are a jazz trio, comprised of pianist Andrew McGowan, guitarist Yuto Kanazawa, and drummer Ilya Dynov.  Their 2020 debut release MicroCosmos sees the trio combining elements of smooth jazz, R&B-imbued bop, adult folk pop, and blues rock fusion.  Recorded by Ng Jun Yang, the release was produced by the trio's drummer Dynov and mixed and mastered by the band's guitarist Kanazawa.  All nine compositions on the recording are originals, written by the three band members, each offering three of their own creations and showcasing three very distinct songwriters.

Out of the three members, Ilya Dynov's compositions demand little more from listeners than to sit back and be engulfed in the tranquil, smooth jazz aesthetics. The placid mellowness emanating from the bluesy soul grooves of his work "Avocados Everyday" are layered in a toasty custard of McGowan's tingling keys and Kanazawa's slow burning guitar wisps. Gentle strokes blanket his creation "Prosperity" in warm, breezy soundscapes, as the delicate spark of McGowan's keys coat the track in a soft glisten, bolstered by Kanazawa's lyrical phrasing on guitar and grouted by Dynov's tapping drum chimes.  His third offering "Tuff Pretty Lady" is drenched in soothing ethers scored by his drum taps and Kanazawa's fluid guitar chords, epoxied by McGowan's keys softly rattling and rustling and expanding on the track's dynamics.

Yuto Kanazawa's compositions require the listener to hear additional elements as the atmospherics take the jazz trio through other textures along the music spectrum.  He projects a sci-fi quality in "Cosmophere" trimmed in space age, symphonic style effects and spikes hard rock shreds along "Alayashiki."  His crowning piece is "Utopia," pulsing a cruising rhythm immersed in silky guitar treads.  The refined musings in Kanazawa's guitar jaunts are finessed to a smooth jazz luster, chiseled by McGowan's keys etching dramatic lines, which form creases in the track, once again expanding on the track's dynamics.

The most demanding composer out of the three for listeners is pianist Andrew McGowan.  The R&B grooves bedrocking his original piece "Corgi" are suspended by the buoyant beats of Dynov's drums and seamed in Kanazawa's sci-fi-esque guitar reverberations as McGowan's keys punch divets along the track.  The freestyle wanderings of his keys straddle "6/8 Tune," infusing a poetic traipsing as the bluesy tone of Kanazawa's guitar strings bathe the track in sedate vibrations.  McGowan's most personalized work is "Another Day," where he sings.  The rawness in his resonance tile the track in passionate thrusts as the pounding beats of Dynov's drums are marbled by the nimble pouncing of McGowan's keys.

Formed in 2018, Micro Corgi is a freestyle jazz trio.  Each member exercises their inner voice, personalizing their creativity expressions and melding their individual visions into a cohesive amalgamation.  Their original compositions are unique in that they are personalized and a challenge for other musicians to replicate.  Recorded at Virtue and Vice Studios in Brooklyn, New York on January 6 and 16, 2020, Micro Corgi is comprised of three distinct songwriters and musicians who meld their ideas and melodic styles to form a multi-faceted amalgam.

Musicians:
Yuto Kanazawa - guitar and composer
Andrew McGowan - keys, microKORG and composer
Ilya Dynov - drums and composer