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Slowly Rolling Camera
With two albums (Slowly Rolling Camera, 2014 – All Things 2016) and an EP (Into the Shadow, 2015) featuring vocalist Dionne Bennett behind them, in 2017 SRC evolved as a unit, focussing on instrumentals, led by composer / keyboardist Dave Stapleton, drummer Elliot Bennett and producer / sound design artist Deri Roberts.
Deutschland Radio described the ‘way jazz and trip-hop merge in Slowly Rolling Camera’s music is genius’ whilst the Guardian announced the band as a ‘powerful newcomer with Rising Star written all over it. Superb!’.
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Slowly Rolling Camera: Flow
by Geno Thackara
At first glance, it looks like an album they were always destined to make. Natural flow has been one central characteristic of Slowly Rolling Camera since the start. From their beginnings in quasi-trip-hop/jazztronica fusion, through a shift into a picturesque instrumental outfit, they have always been effortlessly fluid and comfortable with a good slow burn. They have seemed to be following a sort of elemental theme as well, with Juniper (Edition, 2018) setting down some earthy roots and Where the ...
read moreSlowly Rolling Camera: Where the Streets Lead
by Geannine Reid
Slowly Rolling Camera is a jazz ensemble. Its core is pianist-composer Dave Stapleton, producer Deri Roberts, vocalist-lyricist Dionne Bennett, and drummer Elliot Bennett. Their newest album Where the Streets Lead is a follow-up to their acclaimed album, Juniper (Edition Records, 2018). The album presents eight tracks with a large ensemble, including an 8-piece string section and a list of world-class guests including Mark Lockheart, Jasper Høiby, Verneri Pohjola, Chris Potter, and Sachal Vasandani, as well as the band's regular guitarist ...
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by Chris May
You might imagine jazz musicians are well suited to run record companies, for risk taking and creativity are fundamental to both activities. Mostly, however, musician-led labels have unhappy histories. Either the musician is not from the top drawer and their A&R skills suffer accordingly; or they lack the administrative skills to run a business enterprise effectively. Bassist and composer Charles Mingus was an example of the latter. But just occasionally the combination works. Trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell ...
read moreSlowly Rolling Camera: Where the Streets Lead
by Geno Thackara
When you're not sure which street to take, why not take several and see where they all lead? The inability to decide might just turn into the strongest asset in the right hands. It's always worked just fine for Slowly Rolling Camera, who have always remained too busy carving out a picturesque one-of-a-kind niche to actually bother pinning down what it is they do. Following on from the superb turning point of Juniper (Edition, 2018), which reinvented the ...
read moreSlowly Rolling Camera: Juniper
by Roger Farbey
It would be just too facile to contend that the music produced by Slowly Rolling Camera is in the same ball park as, say, Air, Massive Attack or Groove Armada. For while it's partially true to assign the trip hop epithet to SRC, that shorthand does this trio (comprising, Dave Stapleton, Deri Roberts and Elliot Bennett) a disservice. The group's musical lineage undoubtedly extends way further back, even beyond Soft Machine, Weather Report or Terry Riley. The use of saxophones ...
read moreSlowly Rolling Camera: Juniper
by Geno Thackara
If Slowly Rolling Camera isn't already working on a film score or two, then some director somewhere is really missing out. The Welsh outfit occupies a beautifully lush spot in the music world at the intersection of jazz, trip-hop and soul-soothing electronica. It's sweeping yet intimate stuff, vivid and emotional on a widescreen scale in hi-def. This was true for their first two full- lengths as well, but Juniper shows them making a core change and producing their finest outing ...
read moreSlowly Rolling Camera: All Things
by Roger Farbey
Slowly Rolling Camera was formed in Cardiff, Wales in 2013 and comprises a nucleus of vocalist and lyricist Dionne Bennett, co-composer and keyboardist Dave Stapleton plus Deri Roberts who in addition to producing the album is heard on electronics and assorted instruments and finally Elliot Bennett on drums and percussion. The group is variously augmented by horns, guitar, bass and strings where required. This is the second album by the band, the first eponymous album was released in 2014, preceded ...
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