Kalima

Manchester funk-jazz-pop group Kalima, named after a late-'70s <a href="spotify:artist:4dUMhhUjQ2YcNTvab29hYF">Elvin Jones</a> song, didn't come out of nowhere when the band began in October 1983 -- in fact, Kalima didn't really begin at all. Instead it was the new name for the group <a href="spotify:artist:5HPErplmYokVy4RMW47YKJ">Swamp Children</a>, who had already recorded an album and some singles for Factory before the decision for a less dourly suggestive name was made. Otherwise the group's lineup remained initially unchanged -- singer Ann Quigley, bass player Tony Quigley, guitarist John Kirkham, sax player Cliff Saffer, and drummer Martin Moscrop. Moscrop recruited two of his fellow <a href="spotify:artist:2vygNfdnPBXah21ZrqhxYk">A Certain Ratio</a> bandmates to assist -- pianist Andy Connell and bass/vibes player Jeremy Kerr -- while percussion player Chris Hornerman also joined the band, resulting in a seemingly unwieldy but still cohesive enough lineup that made its initial mark with a couple of singles and then the Night Time Shadows album. The group's distinctly non-stereotypically '80s Manchester sound -- not classically post-punk on the one hand, not the slowly congealing indie-dance approach on the other -- left the band to a small but passionate following and respect if not resultant commercial success. Moscrop and his fellow <a href="spotify:artist:2vygNfdnPBXah21ZrqhxYk">ACR</a> members left the group in 1986, eventually replaced by saxophonist Matthew Taylor, flautist Bernard Moss and drummer David Higgins; with Saffer also out while Warren Sharples took over on bass, this lineup then recorded a self-titled, more brass-driven effort in 1988. Feeling Fine followed in 1990, featuring another revamped lineup -- drum/percussion section Higgins and Hornerman were replaced by Andy Boothman and Iain Alexander -- and continuing critical attention but no commercial breakthrough. In between these two albums was Firefly, a 1989 catchall collection of earlier singles and tracks, including some <a href="spotify:artist:5HPErplmYokVy4RMW47YKJ">Swamp Children</a> songs. After Feeling Fine and the attendant single "Shine" appeared, Kalima went into hibernation for over a decade, reappearing with a self-released album, In Spirit, in 2001, collecting some unreleased and rarer tracks but otherwise featuring new recordings of a stripped-down, three-person lineup of the Quigley siblings and Kirkham, the only three members in every incarnation of the group. A couple of years later the LTM label began a comprehensive reissue program of both <a href="spotify:artist:5HPErplmYokVy4RMW47YKJ">Swamp Children</a> and Kalima's Factory work. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi