Waves Upon Waves, the first single from Snarky Puppy’s upcoming album “Somni,” was just released on streaming platforms, and the video on YouTube. The full album is scheduled to be released November 21st.
Breaking with my usual approach, I’m going to review each track as they’re released and then the full album. I’m coming from the perspective of having been in the room for all the recording sessions in Utrecht back in January 2025. You can read about that experience here – Somni: A Dreamlike Experience.
I will say that watching and listening to an individual track cannot capture the enormity of the experience. Each song has its own feel; some lean toward one instrument group or another, but over the course of the album, the complete ensemble compiles a masterpiece.You can see the audience interspersed with the musicians. Depending on the seat, you were either immersed in one section, or you could take in the full span of the room.
At the recording sessions, we only knew the album title “Somni” meant “Dream” in Catalan. Each song was only identified by number, because that’s how the band recognized them at the time. We now know that Track 1 was “Waves Upon Waves.” I wrote, at the time, “When the music started with the Metropole Orkest string section, it felt like we literally took flight and emotions were overwhelming.” As I glide through the sone, I’d say the title is very appropriate and multifaceted – it can refer to emotional waves, brain waves or of course, sound waves most likely!
So let’s jump into “Waves Upon Waves” right now. The first wave is the gorgeous string section and percussion theme with some perfect horn accents. Bob Reynolds takes the first short tenor solo, with Jay Jennings following on trumpet. The strings plus flutes is as lush as you’d ever hear. Then Chris Bullock gets a turn on flute, followed by Maz on flugelhorn. I don’t want to get carried away here, but within the first two and a half minutes of the tune, you already hear imprints from four of the Snarky Puppy members plus the Metropole Orkest.
The main theme returns with full woodwinds and brass. The break with the MO brass and percussion is pulsing. Then Zach Brock takes a signature solo with the string section clapping percussion in unison. This was so cool to witness.
When they break from the solo, the horns serenade with a clarion call, and Michael League hits with a bass keys bit that is familiar to Snarky Puppy fans worldwide. One aspect I really enjoyed is the wide use of the bass horn and the low-end brass throughout this tune and the rest of the album. We see Marcelo Woloski enjoying playing the krakeb, as often seen during the tune “Xavi.”I absolutely love the section where the horn section each take a turn in succession from Maz to Jay to Bob to Chris down the line. The head with full force of the orchestra comes back, and the “wave” subsides. It’s really a stunning opening!
“Waves Upon Waves,” the album’s opener, became the seed for Somni’s larger concept. League had originally written its theme during the Empire Central sessions but set it aside. “It kind of had this dreamlike quality,” he recalls. The piece gently swells in energy while never fully settling into wakefulness or surrendering to sleep — conjuring the strange tension of drifting between the two.
– SnarkyPuppy.com