Surefire Sweat: Surefire Sweat
Surefire Sweat

Drummer-led bands are often rhythm-centered, Surefire Sweat a perfect example. Formed in 2017, the Toronto-based unit's powered by first-time bandleader Larry Graves, who's joined on the group's self-titled set by four horns and woodwinds (flutist Rob Neal Christian, tenor saxist Elena Kapeleris, baritone saxist Paul Metcalfe, trumpeter Brad Eaton), guitarist Paul MacDougall, bassist Liam Smith, and percussionist Dave Chan (the latter two also contributing Rhodes and Hammond organ, respectively). That makes for a full band sound, which is especially powerful when the eight lock into one of the album's many earthy grooves.

Key to the primarily instrumental material is the group's style: while jazz and R&B influences are present, Surefire Sweat's sound is primarily rooted in funk, Afrobeat, and world rhythms. While the eight pieces are all Graves originals purposefully designed to get bodies moving, they're effective on purely listening grounds, too. The infectious “Number Nine” evokes the dynamic playing of Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, but it wouldn't be inaccurate to describe much of the album as drinking from a similar well; that track's not the only time, in other words, you might find yourself reminded of Fela. Put another way, if Toronto's BamBoo club were still with us, it'd be easy to picture Surefire Sweat as the house band.

Anthemic horns get “Threshold” off to a muscular start, the pulse given extra momentum with the inclusion of MacDougall's funky picking and the rolling swing of Graves, Chan, and Smith. The front-line of horns and woodwinds gives the band's music an irresistible punch in this natural set-opener. The unit's African side asserts itself during “For All the Times I Never Came to See You,” with slinky melodies undergirded by a snappy, claps-enhanced pulse; much the same could be said of “A Tale of Two Times,” which layers a vocal chant over a slow, tenor-heavy groove. Rooted in a five-beat rhythm cycle, “Sunshine Interference” arrests the ear with call-and-response exchanges and a deliciously slinky shuffle, whereas “Scuffle Strut” nods to the American jazz guitarist John Scofield with an organ-slathered, blues-funk workout.

October 2019