The last time we covered Kama Tala, he and Kevin Kahne were building a groovy sci-fi exploration of simulation theory, complete with Daft Punk-style vocoder vocals and twinkling synth pads. “Sugar Coated” is about as far from that as you can get without leaving the same solar system, and that’s precisely the point. Kama Tala is not an artist who has a sound so much as an artist who follows the creative process wherever it leads, and the collaborators he picks up along the way tend to define the destination. This time, the collaborators are Flissisipi, two street musicians he and his producer Zilchman stumbled onto during a road trip, heard a few licks from, and immediately knew they were something special. Thirty minutes of conversation and a jam session later, they were in the studio. That’s the kind of story that sounds too good to be true but produces exactly the kind of music it sounds like it would produce.
What Flissisipi bring to “Sugar Coated” is its entire harmonic identity. Between them, they play four or five horn instruments at a virtuosic level, and the trombone and trumpet work here gives the track a warmth and richness that no synthesized substitute could replicate. Kama Tala has talked about how once the horns entered the equation, the song’s direction became obvious: pop and rock were already in the room, and then he threw in some 60s swing and let it all collide. The result is a lighthearted, nostalgic, genuinely fun piece of music that radiates the joy of people who had no idea what they were making until they were already making it.
If “Stereopsis” showed you Kama Tala‘s capacity for conceptual depth, “Sugar Coated” shows you his range. An artist willing to chase a horn duo down the street and build an entire sonic world around what they bring to the table is one worth paying attention to across whatever direction he turns next. Because if the current state of the creative world rewards anything, it’s constant re-invention to keep up with the ever-changing zeitgeist.