Orlando le Fleming Releases “Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar”

Orlando le Fleming: Romantic Funk: The UnfamiliarOrlando le Fleming has followed up his 2017 album Romantic Funk with a new release that pays homage to the “high-intensity fusion of the 1980’s.” Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar contains eight original compositions performed by a bevy of talent. Le Fleming’s band for the record includes trumpeter Philip Dizack, saxophonist Will Vinson, keyboardist Sean Wayland, and drummers Kush Abadey and Nate Wood.

While technology has led to musicians working completely differently in the studio since those days of fusion, the bassist wanted to take things back to create some new magic.

“Whether in life or music, taking a chance with improvisation and the unfamiliar adds to the possibility of achieving the unknown and the magical,” he states. “Sometimes the risk doesn’t pay off, or maybe the results are hard to decipher at the time but, more often than not, it’s worth it, as there is a chance of originality and something that is not derivative. In music, it captures a more honest representation of the human and moment in time. In under two days in the studio, this album was all played live, with very few edits and overdubs. The musicians are of such high quality that the risk-taking paid off; for me, the inexpressible magic of the group and moment in time was captured. As the process of recording and performing continues to change, I hope there will still be musicians like these – with an implicit sensibility for group interaction, intuition, and improvisation – around in thirty years.”

Get a feel for the album’s textures and the band’s dynamics in this trailer:

Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).

Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar Track List:

  1. I’ll Tell You What It Is Later
  2. Waynes
  3. The Myth of Progress
  4. Struggle Session
  5. FOMO Blues
  6. More Melancholy
  7. Mischievous
  8. The Inexpressible

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