Label: International Anthem Recording, 2021
Personnel - Camae Ayewa: spoken word, synth; Keir Neuringer: saxophone, synth, percussion; Aquiles Navarro: trumpet, synth; Luke Stewart: double bass, bass guitar; Tcheser Holmes: drums, percussion.
The strong collective energy and the urgency in the message of the Philadelphia-based group Irreversible Entanglements are both kept alive on Open the Gates, its third full-length outing. It’s more than one hour of angular, funk-inflected, modal and agit-jazz music played with spiritual discipline and infused with Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moore Mother)’s left-field poetry.
On the title cut, she speaks without hesitation, having an invigorating afrobeat, a bass figure in six, and consensual horn agreement running in the background.
“Keys to Creation” mixes ambient synth waves, a driving funk pulsation on the bass, muted trumpet and a cool syncopated beat. The flow then becomes groove-driven, incorporating kinetic drumming, convulsive saxophone contortions and attentive trumpet observations. A second transformation occurs, and the group essays another turn with the help of a clattered rhythm in three.
For a brief moment, “Lagrimas del Mar” juxtaposes the predominant 6/8 time with a brief lurching 4/4 swing. It’s a crying song delivered with emotional intensity and themed with a simple five-note horn ostinato. “Storm Came Twice” plunges directly into turbulent avant-garde jazz seas, lending the spotlight to the drummer Tcheser Holmes as he accompanies Ayewa’s spoken word. This track catches fire halfway, when the saxophonist Keir Neuringer blows his horn with spartan austerity. He seems OK with Aquiles Navarro’s more relaxed trumpet lines intersecting his.
Clocking in at 20 minutes, “Water Meditation” first advances with folk innuendos, drones, effects, and then a bass statement that inspires Ayewa’s spiritual verses. Later on, she professes “We are sounding for peace. Healing for peace.” This journey doesn’t end without a vibrant sax-trumpet conversation over a sturdy rhythmic underpinning.
The group endows the nourish “The Port Remembers” with an undercurrent of quizzical tension. Luke Stewart’s arco bass turns pizzicato, and there’s multiphonic saxophone shouts, appeasing trumpet and odd-metered grooves that shift seamlessly.
This passionate music is passionately played.
B+
Favorite Tracks:
02 - Keys to Creation ► 03 - Lagrimas Del Mar ► 04 - Storm Came Twice