Music Review: Hungry March Band – ‘Running Through with the Sadness’

Hailing from New York City, the Hungry March Band has been around for two decades. During that time, they’ve achieved a cult-like following. The band’s sound encompasses a variety of styles, including dub, rock, ska, metal, and Latin.

It’s been 10 years since they dropped an album. However, they are preparing to drop their fifth studio album on Imaginator Records, called Running Through with the Sadness. The band comprises 20 members, which means lots of instruments: sax, percussion, trombone, trumpet, sousaphone, and clarinet. And they get around, having played with Peter Gabriel, and at Lollapalooza, as well as Mardi Gras and the Sant’Anna Aressi Jazz Festival in Sardinia.

The new album contains 10 tracks. Highlights include “Shimmy,” with its rollicking NOLA funk groove and wild, danceable feel. “Mali Mali,” a tribute to Coumba Sidibe, the Malian wassoulou singer, rides a Jovian polyrhythmic beat and displays the talents of tenor and baritone saxophonists Tove Langhof and Jason Candler.

“Swirling Spaceman” exudes a contagious dub filament and stellar musicianship. The title track, also the first single, travels on a dynamic merengue de orquesta, compelling quintillo, and beau coup staggering bright colors from the horns. The feel and mood of the tune is untamed exuberance.

Running Through with the Sadness provides delicious, heady music. Each and every song on the album is smooth and cool, discharging an electric quality that really grabs your ears. With this new album, I have the feeling that the Hungry March Band will become more main stream, simply because it’s so good.

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