It’s been three years since Run Logan Run’s last release, the epic Nature Will Take Care Of You. If you have not come across them before they are consummate manipulators or sound and rhythm; they understand the mechanics of jazz but have stripped it down and rebuilt it into something between a muscle car and a spaceship. It’s how I imagine Ornette Coleman would have sounded if it had occurred to him that you could put a saxophone through an array of effects pedals. But apart from a more experimental set at Bristol’s Jam Jar in April 2024 this the Prey For Peace EP is their first recorded output since 2022. It’s part one of a trilogy, with parts two and three coming later in 2025
There have been a few incarnations of Run Logan Run. My first experience seeing them live was in 2017 at the Sonic Imperfections night in London when they were the duo of Andrew Neil Hayes on saxophone and Dan Johnson on drums. I had to retrieve my jaw from the floor as they tore up the venue with their explosive part-written/part-improvised music. I had never heard a saxophone treated with so many effects before but far from being a vaudeville act the pedals created ground shaking subsonic rumble or keening electronic manipulation while still allowing for all the sounds you would expect from the instrument. In recent years the duo morphed into a full band featuring bass, guitar and exceptional vocalist Annie Gardiner.
It was Adam Barringer of Champion Version who persuaded Andrew Neil Hayes to write and record some new music. Hayes seized this as an opportunity, and knew exactly who he wanted to work with. He says, “I was waiting for this moment my entire life, the chance to partner with my two lifelong friends, Jonathan Wolf (the illusive producer) and BB.JAMES. We spent a lot of time messing about in the studio, making strange noises, chatting shit, having a laugh basically. Trying to shed the pretence and weight of past excursions.”
Considering the towering presence of Hayes’ saxophone in RLR the opening song ‘Beyond Belief’ starts with low synth pulses and delayed haunted-dancehall piano, and it’s only way passed the midpoint when the sax comes in, swelling and flexing like huge cumulus nimbus rolling across the sky on a gloriously sunny day. ‘Flower Without A Stem’ has an elegiac topline tune that sails over a backdrop of saxophone loops that swirl like a murmuration. As the melody becomes more urgent synth sub-bass rumbles in before a final section crashes the party with a rhythmic drum pattern and the repeated vocal mantra “don’t fall in”.
‘Love You To Life’ showcases the exceptional voice of BB James as she gets to soar over the subtly shifting low notes and gentle tap of hi-hat and electronic drums. This is a slow and tender duet that drifts between vocals and saxophone, both offering up aching melodies. BB James bends notes with longtails and luscious vibrato and the off and on reverb is a lovely touch that makes things dreamlike in one moment before offering sharp focus in the next to highlight the unadorned strength of James’ voice. The final track, ‘The Scent Organ’, is a slow burn that moves from a gentle trip-hop feel into something RLR fans will be familiar with; the frenetic but controlled drums of Dan Johnson and the kind of saxophone playing that when it crescendos feels like Andrew Neil Hayes is battle gods and monsters and all the elements to save us all.
I asked Andrew Neil Hayes how the name ‘Prey For Peace’ came to him and he said, “For me, Prey For Peace works on a few levels. Initially as a simple prayer for peace, but in the play on words, a comment about how we seem to be tearing ourselves apart in the pursuit of truth (in the culture wars and litteral wars worldwide). It seems like we’re all so afraid of being wrong that we’re kicking and screaming and clutching and grabbing onto anything we can get a hold of and strangling it. Zooming out to a macro level, none of this matters, but of course as individuals we’re inherently trapped in the moment and as a result, everything has deep connotations. For me this reflects the duality of conciousness. I wonder if maybe we have to kill our ‘self’s’ in order to get peace?“
Run Logan Run often surprise but never disappoint, and this set of tracks still delivers the dazzling array of effects-driven sounds that Hayes can elicit from his saxophone but also showcases his incredible sense of melody. Hayes has the soul of a poet and the breath control of a free diver, and though this EP may have come out of friends kicking back and having fun it still resonates with the beauty and depth that can be found when perfectly mixing electronics with the organic delight of the human voice, saxophone, and drums.
Run Logan Run socials: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp | Website
BB James: Instagram | Facebook
Review by Paul F Cook
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