David Dower Trio & The Mighty Mravka
David, Matt and Luke are no strangers to jazz.
The three musicians — piano, drums, and bass, respectively — have been playing notes (and, importantly, not playing notes) together for almost five years, in which time the Australian-UK trio have toured through Europe and cut a couple of records. Those releases, 2018’s Made In Sofia EP and 2019’s There Are No Stars, tell a story of not only international musical collaboration, but a deep and abiding romance with the unlikely nation of Bulgaria.
In the moments before the pandemic, the trio cultivated a fierce fanbase by touring the beautiful Balkan country, performing at live shows and making it onto TV. The relationship was never one-sided, however, and a dialogue soon developed, with Bulgaria’s unique culture quickly influencing Dower’s compositions. They first travelled to the nation in 2017, and five years (and one pandemic) later, they’ve recently concluded their fourth tour through the region. It marked their post-COVID return to the nation, and saw them record their third Bulgarian project.
This time around, it provided not only musical influence, but spontaneous creative inspiration. On a trip to Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria’s medieval capital, Dower was appreciating a large sculpture of an ant when a stranger walking past let out an aggressive yell: “mravka!” “It was a bit of a shock, being yelled at in the street,” he recalls, a fact made all the more daunting by the language barrier. “A few minutes later, I had a bit of a hunch and did a search on Google Translate for the Buglarian for ‘ant,’ and it turned out the man had yelled ‘mravka’ at me.” That’s the kind of inexplicable interaction that stays with you, as David admits: “the album title, and tune, are born from this ostensibly-combative-but-actually-helpful gentleman!”
The mravka on the cover of the record, a lonesome widow playing chess alone, speaks to the eccentricities of the David Dower Trio itself. The illustration from Jesse Kidd undercuts the sad scene with a comedic edge, with both the comic style and outright absurdity of the situation countering the darkness depicted. It’s in this dichotomy that the David Dower Trio shines, fusing and often juxtaposing moments of elation with flashes of sadness, longing, and wistful beauty.
“Selo,” the album opener, is a cross-cultural collaboration that launches us into these dueling moods. A six-minute journey through the villages of Bulgaria, the rich choral harmonies and wandering afro-cuban segues evoke the country’s beautiful townships. The three-part choir — Pirina Hristova, Gabriela Milanova, and lead vocalist Rayna Vasileva — brings haunting melodies, incorporating traditional inflections and distinctive regional melismas. The lyrics, penned by Bulgarian lyricist Mariana Vasileva, speak to the effects of the nation’s steep demographic decline. Bulgaria’s population shrunk by more than 11% in the decade to 2021, that unprecedented exodus making it the fastest shrinking country in the world and impacting the beautiful villages and towns that dot the nation. Dower’s musical reflection is equal parts melancholic and hopeful, that tonal balance familiar territory for the oft-quirky arranger.
Distinctive too is “Kopanitsa,” named for the Bulgarian folk style, which takes a laidback lease on those intoxicating rhythms. A line dance that moves on the uncommon meter of 11/8, the song can prove difficult to count — let alone dance to — for those unaccustomed. Sofia-based musician Zhivko Vasilev plays the Kaval, an ancient Balkan flute, lacing the arrangement with an enchanting solo in a distinctive timbre.
The first of the trio’s solitary performances, title track “Mravka” conjures the comic ant on the album art, infused with the uplifting pep of Fowlers’ fuzz bass, the sunny melodies of Dower’s piano, and the spotlit intricacies of Fisher’s drumkit. There’s a sly drum and bass influence in the percussion here, with passages of frantic IDM-esque breakbeats flaring up and flaming out as quickly as they came.
A tender ballad, “Tell Me What You See” is the most straightforward arrangement on the record, buoyed by a slow-burning warmth. There’s a real power to Bulgarian jazz singer Vesela Morova’s evocative voice, which is flanked by Tristan Rebien’s brass and Elliot Frost’s guitar, as well as Dower’s own backing vocal. The lyrics, a collaboration between David Dower and his brother, Patrick, are cheekily billed as “a moment of co-operation that would make their Mum proud.”
“Syanka” is, like “Kopanitsa,” an example of the Trio’s love for Bulgarian musical tradition, employing a slow nine-meter rhythm known as daychovo horo. It’s a signature famously employed on Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” but Dower’s arrangement is more patient, giving ample room for the choir, Frost’s guitar, and Vasilev’s distinctive Kaval.
It’s flanked by the record’s most playful track, “I Don’t Like Mondays,” an instrumental cover of The Boomtown Rats’ dark comic hit. Even following previous covers of “Mamma Mia” and “Take On Me,” it seems a strangely specific choice, one Dower explains by way of his own music, once described as “an extreme but functional juxtaposition between darkness and light-heartedness.” Geldof and Fingers’ controversial hit is a masterclass in the grim pep, and the trio handle it with ease: Dower’s floral piano lines build to a fuzzy crescendo, the theatrical refrain something like Ben Folds Five, albeit maybe a mid-2000s reunion where they’ve learned the power of a little restraint.
That chaotic energy subsides some on “Freya,” a track inspired by Dower’s baby niece. Unfolding like a calming lullaby, it’s a postscript to the otherwise invigorated record which, even in its quietest moments, bristled with the energy of the well-heeled jazz trio. Here, the piano shoulders almost all the weight, resplendent melodies pouring from his patient hands. It’s a moment of solitude that drives home Dower’s skill as writer, arranger, and passionate performer. That a song so solidly centres him is rare, but that it does proves a reminder of his larger ambitions. The name ‘David Dower Trio’ may callback to the age of bandleaders and eponymous troupes, but it’s the power of collaboration — both within the trio and among the guests — that sees his most engaging ideas truly shine.
On Mravka, a fun album that wields jazz, pop, and rock with disarming charm, Bulgaria itself is their fiercest collaborator. It’s more than just a professional engagement or a session booking, with the inspiration gleaned underlined by a profound respect and admiration. It used to be surprising that Dower, Fowler and Fisher found their place in such an unlikely locale; now, it seems wild to think they could’ve missed the call.
LISTEN TO MRAVKA
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