Space 1.8 (Warp Records)
Nala Sinephro
Released September 3, 2021
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2021
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mOW7Jd-xuRRCkm98I_SduXHc1ql2dFym8
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About:
Composer, producer and musician Nala Sinephro showcases her visionary credentials with her debut album Space 1.8. We’re hard-pressed to think of a sound world this cohesive and expansive, a higher realm of composition with ecstatic freedom at every turn. One where each drone, melody and cacophonous crescendo equates to a collective feeling of release.
Space 1.8 is a record occupying an ambiguous state of time, place and mind. It could’ve emerged from the golden age of healing music alongside the pioneering work of Laurie Spiegel and Alice Coltrane; a lost classic slept upon by its contemporaneous audience and rediscovered to rapturous praise many decades later — and yet there’s a vitality to its pastel jazz chords and sudden bursts of bilious, free energy that gives it the characteristic of a sound distinct from the music of any age. What’s more with a glowing musical troupe including Nubya Garcia (Jazz re:freshed), Shirley Tetteh (Jazz Jamaica, Groundation, Nérija) Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic, Steam Down) and Eddie Hick (Sons Of Kemet) unfurling its luscious biome of ideas, Space 1.8 is set to be one of contemporary UK jazz’s key releases.
An absolute triumph of a debut, Space 1.8 is the utterance of Nala Sinephro’s fully-formed sensibilities; generous, groundbreaking and completely flooring.
Track Listing:
1. Space 1 04:08
2. Space 2 04:53
3. Space 3 01:14
4. Space 4 06:19
5. Space 5 04:00
6. Space 6 04:29
7. Space 7 01:41
8. Space 8 17:34
Personnel:
Nala Sinephro: synthesizer, modular synth (1, 4, 5, 7, 8), harp (1, 4, 5, 7, 8)
Rudi Creswick: double bass (2)
Jake Long: drums (2, 4, 6)
Shirley Tetteh: guitar (2, 5)
Lyle Barton: piano (2), keyboards (4)
James Mollison: saxophone (2, 6)
Wonky Logic: synth bass (3)
Eddie Hick: drums (3)
Twm Dylan: double bass (4)
Nubya Garcia: saxophone (4)
Ahnansé: saxophone (5, 8)
Recorded at Pink Bird Recording Co. and Nala Sinephro’s Home, by Rick David (2, 3, 5, 6, 8), Ben Bell (4) and Nala Sinephro
Mixed by Nala Sinephro and Rick David (4, 6)
Mastered by Rick David (1-7) and Nala Sinephro (8)
Lacquer Cut by Beau
Design: Maziyar Pahlevan
Painting: Daniela Yohannes
Produced by Nala Sinephro
Review:
The debut album by London-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and NTS Radio host Nala Sinephro intertwines spiritual jazz and ambient music, melding acoustic and electronic instruments to create meditative pieces that explore inner space while pondering the possibilities of the future. Sinephro performs pedal harp and modular synthesizers, and she’s joined by several notable musicians, including saxophonists Nubya Garcia, Ahnansé, and James Mollison, drummers Jake Long, and Eddie Hick, bassists Rudi Creswick and Twm Dylan, and others. The gentle, collage-like opener blooms with the sounds of chirping birds serving as a backdrop for Sinephro’s graceful harp and illuminating synths. Following the dusky, comforting “Space 2,” the musicians briefly kick into overdrive with the momentary rocket burst “Space 3,” which feels like the beginning of a jazzy drum’n’bass crossover but caps that bit of excitement before developing further. “Space 6” is more intense, with an unsteady, angular rhythm and buzzing, bassy synths that erupt into mesmerizing waves. Concluding the album is “Space 8,” a 17-minute celestial jazz epic that suspends Ahnansé’s warm, wistful saxophone playing inside an ethereal glow, gradually encircled by spiralling echoes. Both a reflective sound bath and an ecstatic celebration of creative freedom, Space 1.8 is a singular, eye-opening debut.
Paul Simpson (AllMusic)
