Mammal Hands

Formed in the early 2010s in Norwich, England, the trio Mammal Hands brings together saxophonist Jordan Smart, pianist Nick Smart and drummer-percussionist Jesse Barrett around an instrumental approach that sits between contemporary jazz, repetitive music and global influences. Mammal Hands’ sound relies on hypnotic piano motifs, melodic saxophone lines and cyclic rhythms nourished as much by spiritual jazz as by certain strands of minimalist classical music and folk. Signed to the British label Gondwana Records, they released their debut album Animalia in 2014, followed by Floa in 2016 and Shadow Work in 2017, works that confirmed a focus on texture, group dynamics and the balance between composition and improvisation. The EP Becoming (2019) and the albums Captured Spirits (2020) and Gift from the Trees (2023) continue this aesthetic, further exploring contrasts between atmospheric passages, repetitive pulses and rhythmic developments inspired by various non‑European traditions. With a regular presence on club and festival stages across the UK and Europe, Mammal Hands belong to a generation of instrumental ensembles renewing the boundaries of jazz by drawing it closer to ambient and electronic currents without adopting their tools.