Joshua Abrams made his name playing the double bass on the same exploratory Chicago scene that has spawned the likes of Tortoise, Hamid Drake and Matana Roberts. Here, however, he switches to the guimbri (a three-string lute associated with the Gnawa musicians of Saharan Africa) in a project that mixes spiritual jazz, spiky post-rock and Terry Riley-inspired systems music. Maroon Dune is a hypnotic groove in a 10/4 rhythm; Sideways Fall sounds like Can’s Jaki Liebezeit jamming with Philip Glass; while the closing track, 2128½, is a pulsating jazz waltz that recalls Alice Coltrane, with tenorist Ari Brown in the Pharoah Sanders role. What holds everything together, however, is the spectral presence of Africa – with Abrams’ goatskin-covered guimbri bouncing around the mix, sharing sonic space with resonator bells, bow harps and thumb pianos. A compelling Afro-futurist voyage.
