Any band that has a pun in their name immediately piques my interest. From Korea's Seoulful capital, and also based in London, Soul Delivery are a group of musicians creating top-quality jazz-funk, collected here across the twelve tracks on their new album 'Foodcourt'. Instrumental opener 'Driving Into Magic Hour', showcases the group's playing strengths; deft guitars, tight drums, solid bass, and a stellar trumpet contribution from Q the trumpet. 'Nugs' confusingly succeeds in mixing rap and soul vocals into the jazz hop mix. This is relentlessly positive music, and the group find some balance in the more introspective moments of 'Nogari'.
I'm not fond of nationalism or stereotyping in any sense, but Soul Delivery are representative of the wider music scene in Korea, where production quality in all of the recorded arts is of the highest standard. On Foodcourt, Soul Delivery let the performances do all the heavy lifting, the mix left clean and punchy. 'Dirty Table' is a straightforward blues-rock number with nice lead guitar and changes in time signature, giving the collection more depth. Comparisons with Vulfpeck are easily made on Colombia, and a drunk synth plays over the fun and snappy '하늘정원'. Featuring vocal contributions from Sletta, Life Soup, is an adorbs soft rock, country jazz piece. The name Foodcourt starts to make sense once you listen to the whole album. Just as food courts tend to offer diners an array of options, from international cuisine to fast food, this album offers a smorgasbord of auditory delights. As enjoyable as it is professional.
★★★★
Reviewed by Jay Honeycomb on March 24th 2022
Rating: 4