Joss Jaffe & Jim "Kimo" West - Santhi

4.9

Rating

4.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Great atmosphere created with a rather limited set of instruments
Beautiful blending of musical influences from different cultures
Very metaphoric and intense instrumental album

Jim “Kimo” West albums are always a treat to me. The artist you typically know as the guitarist of “Weird Al” Yankovic makes use of the touring break with his main act and focuses on his own releases. For his new album Santhi, he teams up with Joss Jaffe. The album release date is 16th August 2024.

Joss Jaffe – About The Artist

Joss Jaffe is a musician and producer born in Santa Barbara in California on 1st October 1980. He is majorly active in new age music, but also in world music, reggae and some electronic genres. He released seven albums so far, including the 2018 remix album of his 2015 Dub Mantra Sangha and the 2023 instrumental version of Sun Mountain Sea, originally released in 2022. Jaffe and West collaborated in the past already several times, including the 2022 cover of John Lennon’s Imagine. His latest non-re-released album was Aum Akua, which he also released together with Kimo.

Jim “Kimo” West – About The Artist

You already find a lot of information about James West, typically named Jim and known as Kimo. He is one of the Featured Artists of Flyctory.com. For example, I featured his first German appearances in 2023 at the Nacht der Giratten tour. In 2020, I also introduced you to the Canadian artist, who is living in California and Hawaii, in a Spotlight interview. Apart from that, you find concert coverage of him on this website as part of Weird Al Yankovic shows, including the February 2024 show in Tilburg in the Netherlands. His album More Guitar Stories won the 2020 Grammy Award as the Best New Age Album.

Joss Jaffe & Jim “Kimo” West – Santhi – Track by Track

The ten track album lasts 49 minutes. The Sanskrit word Santhi, by the way, is a word for peace.

1. Afterglow

The four minute opener Afterglow already points in which the album is heading. Kimo West is driving the song with his lovely guitar play, while Joss Jaffe’s world music style is adding a lovely touch to it. This time, their collaboration rather reaches out to Oriental and Indian style music, just as Santhi as the album title is suggesting.

2. Tranquility Drift

I haven’t been exposed to album releases by Joss Jaffe yet. But even though Jaffe is a bit of the leading artist in this collaboration, I feel the expertise and musical mastermind of Kimo’s work in songs like Tranquility Drift. The song takes you into a new world. This one is dreamy, warm, you feel the warmth while listening to it. West’s slack guitar is the melodic backbone of the song, which is turned into a special listen by the wise use of percussion and additional instruments.

3. Rainbow Body

Rainbow Body starts gentle and slow. However, the song just takes its time and over its total of five minute, it more and more introduces beautiful melodies and gentle rhythmic elements. According to the press information, the album was also inspired by the spirituality and art of Balinese culture. This feels to be a perfect fit. Songs like this one also have a very calming and meditative touch. Even though the two artists don’t use that many instrumental elements in here, the song has a lovely plot. Even after the five minutes of listening, you rather feel sad about that it is already over.

4. Monkey Forest Road

In Monkey Forest Road, the guitar is rather the backing instrument, which is creating the acoustic bedding of the song. On top of that, several exotic instruments create an intense, slightly dramatic atmosphere. Jaffe and West again limit the sound to what is absolutely needed to create the atmosphere they are longing for. Beautiful.

5. Shadow Play

With almost five and a half minutes, Shadow Play is one of the longest listen. There is a bit of a frightening touch, especially in the beginning of the song. On the other hand, you are also inspired by the beauty of the recording. The sound feels limited, but still rich. These contrasts are a key factor which is turning Santhi into a fascinating listen.

6. Moonlight Journey

With over six minutes, the Moonlight Journey is the longest musical voyage Jaffe and West take us on in Santhi. Especially at the beginning, the song has a very strong meditative character, so that you gently glide into the story and landscape of the song.

7. Water Blessing

Water Blessing is a beautifully flowing song. The songs feels even more harmonic than others on the album to me. Different string instruments form the melodic foundation of this track. Another really beautiful listen.

8. Sun Rain

In the context of the rather long and epic songs of Santhi, the less than three minute Sun Rain feels to be a little ditty. However, it does leave a mark. Especially the flute sounds feel very intense to me.

9. Butterfly

Beautiful guitar melodies are meeting lovely percussion work in the ninth song of Santhi, Butterfly. The guitars feel to contrast slightly to the rhythm of the gentle beats, but that finally leads to the special character of this listen. There is a very strong touch of Balinese feeling in this song.

10. Dreampath

The album closes with Dreampath, which is also the last song released by the two artists before the album publication. The song leads to a gentle, but also very intense ending of this instrumental album. It also has a comparably wide instrumentation, which leads to a very present character.

Joss Jaffe & Jim “Kimo” West – Santhi – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

Joss Jaffe & Jim “Kimo” West – Santhi – My View

There is a sentence I like use too often about instrumental music: good music does not need lyrics necessarily. Joss Jaffe and Jim “Kimo” West illustrate that in a masterful way in their 2024 album Santhi. The songs take you into other worlds, they create pictures and emotions in your mind. Santhi is an intense album. You waste a lot when you don’t listen actively. I am absolutely fascinated by this collaboration.