Matters Unknown, Sy; Gigs, Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury, 31/01/2025.

Jonathan Enser – trumpet, tuba, vocals, conch shell, percussion, samples, electronics, Lyle Barton – keyboards, percussion, Matt Davies – drums, percussion, samples

Tonight’s sold out event was the first event in Sy; Gigs third series and an intriguing and enjoyable performance from Matters Unknown, a project led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Jonathan Enser,  ensured that the 2025 series, subtitled “Nothing is Ordinary”, got off to a terrific start.

Sy; Gigs is the brainchild of Chris Taylor, who began the project with the aim of bringing genuinely alternative music to Shrewsbury.

The Sy: Gigs strand embraces various forms of experimental music with jazz just one of the elements in an eclectic range of events that also incorporates folk, electronica, contemporary classical and avant pop / rock. A number of events are double bills so a single evening of music may encompass several of these. It’s a series of events that is likely to appeal to listeners of such BBC Radio 3 programmes as Late Junction, Unclassified and Night Tracks.

Events are staged at two Shrewsbury churches, the 100 seat Unitarian Church and the larger St. Alkmund’s Church, which can accommodate 240.

I was first introduced to Chris Taylor at a performance by trumpeter Matthew Halsall and his band at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury in October 2023, a show that I attended as a paying customer. I’m grateful to Chris for subsequently getting in touch and inviting me to cover the events that he was presenting under the Sy; Gigs banner.

I reviewed my first Sy; Gigs event in March 2024, a performance by saxophonist / sound artist Miles Spilsbury and his trio at a sold out Unitarian Church. I have subsequently covered the double bill of Haress and the Tara Clerkin Trio at St. Alkmund’s and the double bill of Bazmatron and Group Listening back at the Unitarian.

Clashes with other commitments prevented me from covering as many Sy; Gigs events as I would have liked in 2024, but so far the diary is looking clearer for 2025 and I hope to be able to review a larger proportion of them.

Chris Taylor has done a terrific job in building a loyal following for his events and tonight’s show quickly sold out, with many more potential audience members on a lengthy waiting list. In retrospect he may have wished he’d staged it at St. Alkmund’s, but the capacity audience meant that tonight’s event had a great atmosphere, variously created by the intimacy of the venue, the quality of the music and Enser’s engaging presenting style.

Enser is arguably best known as the brass player of the band Nubiyan Twist but he also runs his own Matters Unknown project, with which he has released the full length double album “We Aren’t Just” (2022) and the recent EP “Silhouettes; A Dream Sphere Journal” (2025).

Both recordings feature a large pool of core musicians and also include collaborations with a diverse array of guest musicians from around the globe. Enser has described his music as encompassing “Afro-jazz, celestial blues, soulful funk, electronica, hip hop and more”. It seeks to bring together various musical elements of the African diaspora. Enser may hail from rural Oxfordshire, but musically speaking he’s a true global citizen and has collaborated with artists such as Mulatu Astatke and Tony Allen.

Chris Taylor is keen to stress the importance of music to mental health and general well being. This, together with a love of nature, is at the heart of the Sy; Gigs ethos  as he continues to successfully build a community of adventurous music listeners in Shrewsbury.

As an artist the disarmingly open and honest Enser proved to be a perfect fit for this aesthetic. During the course of tonight’s performance he talked openly about his struggles with both mental health and chronic pain, having been born with club feet he has lived with pain and disability and recently underwent a leg amputation. Now fully recovered and fitted with an appropriate prosthetic limb he is impressively mobile and more than willing to talk about his experiences. In turn these have influenced his music making, with the new EP in part inspired by his amputee journey.

Tonight’s trio line up featured two key musicians from the Matters Unknown ‘pool’.

Keyboard player Lyle Barton also plays with Nubiyan Twist and as a prolific sideman has also worked with an impressive list of other artists including Nubya Garcia, Emma-Jean Thackray, Zara McFarlane, Gary Bartz, Jonny Wickham and Poppy Ajudha.

Drummer Matt Davies is an experienced session musician and has also worked extensively with electronic musician and producer Church Andrews (aka Kirk Barley).

In accordance with the series title there was nothing ordinary about the way Enser and his bandmates started this show. During what Enser later described as “a ceremonial introduction” the leader was featured blowing a conch shell in an atmospheric clarion call that also featured the ethereal sounds of Davies’ finger cymbals and Barton’s keyboard sound-washes. As Enser’s conch playing became more urgent Davies switched his attention to the delicate thunder of mallet rumbles.

This opening sequence evolved into the appropriately titled “A Beginning”, the opening track from the “Aren’t We Just” album. This featured a brief passage of spoken word from Enser before the trio took us further into their exotic sound-world with the leader moving between trumpet and tuba and treating the sounds of the latter electronically, in a manner that sometimes reminded me of the Norwegian tubist and composer Daniel Herskedal. Barton gravitated between acoustic piano and electric keyboard sounds while Davies displayed an encyclopaedic knowledge of rhythm and groove. Enser subsequently dedicated this piece to the memory of his late grandfather Peter Enser, who had played tuba in local brass bands and who had encouraged young Jonathan’s musical endeavours, introducing him to both trumpet and tuba.

The as yet unreleased “Soul” was written by Enser for his partner, with the composer describing the song as “an ode to queer love”. Enser was again featured on tuba and also as a vocalist. Matters Unknown is his first project to feature him as a singer, but it’s a new role that he seems to be quickly settling into as he encouraged the audience to sing along with the song’s “I Remember You” refrain.

Enser spent time studying in the USA and the as yet unreleased “Chi” was named for the city of Chicago. Sounding suitably urban and featuring a near funk groove this piece saw Enser starting out on tuba before switching to trumpet to deliver a powerful solo. Behind the keyboards Barton combined synth melodies and textures with earthy electric piano, favouring a wah wah electric piano sound for his solo.

An intriguing first set came to a close with a segue of “Race Against The Sun”, a composition from the “Silhouettes” EP and “Orange Triangle”, a piece from the “Aren’t We Just” recording.

. The recorded version of “Race Against The Sun” is a collaboration with the Cuban vocalist and percussionist Flavio Correa. Tonight’s performance also included a visual element with an audio backing track featuring Correa’s playing integrated into the performance together with video images projected onto a makeshift screen positioned behind Enser. There were a few technical issues before everything got synchronised, with the gregarious Enser keeping the crowd engaged as sound engineer Stav beavered away.

Once things got underway this was a vibrantly rhythmic performance featuring a mix of live and pre-recorded rhythms, with Enser encouraging the audience to clap along. The leader continued to move between trumpet and tuba and at one juncture all three band members were playing some form of percussion.

A quieter section featuring just keys and drums led into an electric piano solo from the impressive Barton. This also marked the transition into “Orange Triangle”, which saw Enser soloing on trumpet above Davies’ drum grooves, the trumpet sound almost flute like at times and vaguely reminiscent of that of the great Norwegian musician Arve Henriksen, an acknowledged influence.

Despite the technical difficulties at the start this was the trio’s most exciting and convincing performance thus far and one sensed that the band were really beginning to hit their stride. This hypothesis was borne out by a lengthier second set that continued to see the trio embracing a broad range of global musical influences.

Enser’s breadth of vision and his willingness to draw inspiration from a wide array of sources was exemplified by “Double Trouble”, which was variously influenced by the sounds of Detroit born jazz / hip hop drummer Karriem Riggins and the great Brazilian multi-instrumentalist and composer Hermeto Pascoal. Enser described the piece as representing the “Transatlantic Diaspora” as hip hop inspired drum grooves and synth sounds were combined with samples of Pascoal triggered by Enser via his MPD sampler, a device that played an important role in the group sound throughout the evening. Enser’s use of electronics was extensive and he effectively played the MPD, a process as skilled as playing a conventional keyboard instrument, as he explained to me later. A series of recurring electronic patterns also suggested the influence of Minimalism, but there were more conventional jazz sounds too, with Enser also soloing on trumpet.

From the “Aren’t We Just” album the composition “Hewester” was written for sometime Matters Unknown bassist Alex Hewes, who appears on the recorded version. A solo tuba introduction was paused as Enser put down his instrument and declared “this church is amazing!”, as he revelled in the Unitarian’s acoustics. The hip hop influence continued in the powerful grooves as Enser switched to trumpet and also added vocals and percussion before moving back to tuba. Barton was featured with an ‘acoustic’ piano solo. Trumpet and voice were then featured once more, with the vocal refrain cautioning the listener to “hold on tight to your roots when they’re coming for you”.

Also from the Debut album “BlindSpot” was ushered in by an extended unaccompanied drum intro from Davies, an often explosive performance that exuded an air of controlled power and which embraced a fascinating array of drum sounds, some of them samples of West African griot musicians triggered by Davies. Barton’s layered keyboards and Enser’s trumpet and electronics were added with Barton taking a keyboard solo that combined electric piano sounds and synth drones and later evolved into an engaging dialogue with Davies as Enser sat back and watched on, beaming beatifically at his bandmates’ efforts. It was then back to work for Enser with a slow burning trumpet solo as he also doubled on MPD, delivering a series of sampled violin sounds.

The as yet unreleased “Sunshine River Swells” was inspired by the world’s rivers and combined the sounds of tuba, keyboards and electronics with Davies’ mallet rumbles to deliver music that sounded suitably aqueous, but which also sounded sunny and uplifting, somehow embodying all of the qualities inherent in the title.

The “Silhouettes” EP includes “What Are You About”, a collaboration with the Wolverhampton based rap / hip hop artist NEONE the Wonderer. The song’s lyrics address toxic relationships and this was a second performance that saw the trio performing in conjunction with a backing track and accompanying video. Described by Enser as being “groovy” this piece featured him on tuba and also included his vocals alongside NEONE’s pre-recorded rapping. It all worked surprisingly successfully.

The second set concluded with “I Am The Birds”, another track from the “Silhouettes” EP and inspired by the green parakeets nesting in a tree in Enser’s garden in New Cross, South London. The recorded version is a collaboration with Onipa, the duo of Nubiyan Twist member Tom Excell and the Ghanaian musician Kweku Sackey. Tonight’s instrumental version represented something of a showcase for Barton, whose sparkling piano solo was well supported by tuba and drums.

Despite the technical glitches in the first half and the fact that Enser’s tuba and vocals were sometimes too low in the mix this was a hugely successful performance that delighted the capacity crowd at the Unitarian. The audience stood to applaud the band and to call out for an encore, this proving to be “Deepings”, another song inspired by water. A quiet introduction featuring the sounds of trumpet, ‘acoustic’ piano and brushed drums was followed by an Enser trumpet solo, the pace of the music still relatively sedate at this juncture. A transitory passage featuring textured keyboards and electronics then led into a more upbeat section featuring driving drum grooves and vocals, with Enser encouraging the crowd to sing along with the gospel inflected “wide like the river” refrain.
As the willing audience continued to sing the chorus Enser took flight on trumpet. It was a great way to end an evening that was a triumph for Chris Taylor and Sy; Gigs and also for the band themselves on this penultimate date in a five date mini-tour.

The success of the show was down to both the quality of the playing and the writing and also Enser’s willingness to engage frankly and openly with the audience. They were able to empathise with him and to buy into his inclusive vision of “re-imagining the world through a de-colonial lens” via a very personal celebration of the various musics of the African diaspora.

With Matters Unknown Enser casts his musical net wide, exploring elements of jazz, soul, gospel, funk rap, hip hop, electronica and also various African and Latin American musics, but somehow drawing this vast array of influences together to create a convincing artistic vision.

With a large pool of musicians and a wide array of guests the recordings are impressive in their scope with the music sometimes expanding to quasi orchestral proportions. Listening to the music on Bandcamp I was variously reminded of Kamasi Washington and the UK’s own Daniel Casimir, two other artists with similarly wide ranging visions who are also capable of producing music on an almost epic scale.

The trio version of Matters Unknown delivered an entertaining distillation of Enser’s vision, with the leader very much at the heart of the performance. It was a performance that was very much enjoyed by the audience, and even the occasional sound gremlins didn’t detract too much from the overall audio-visual experience. I have to say that I had a degree of sympathy for Sy; Gigs’ regular sound engineer Stav, mixing a band, even a three piece one, that deploys that much electronic technology must represent something of a challenge. Together he and the trio were able to surmount the problems to produce a show that was variously entertaining, absorbing and thought provoking.

Nothing is Ordinary.

Matters Unknown recordings available here;
https://mattersunknown.bandcamp.com/

For details of future Sy : Gigs please visit;
https://sygigs.com/