The fifth studio album from Irreversible Entanglements is upon us. Future Present Past is a lively record, one which is full of fiery polemic as well as fiery playing. This is a concise distillation of the quintet's strengths, and one of their most directly appealing releases so far.
"Don't Lose Your Head" swings, Moor Mother's vocals matching the rhythms of Tcheser Holmes' drums and cymbals. Soprano sax from Keir Neuringer punctuates the cut. The superb "Vibrate Higher" opens on Luke Stewart's bass before trumpet from Aquiles Navarro and drum-crashes from Holmes anchor Moor Mother's supple lyrical craft. The spiritual yearnings of the lyrics match the strivings of the musicians. It's a piece which feels like it's a statement of some kind, where each player is in agreement and embarking on a journey for something more, and a rejection of war and other ills of the current scene. As always, the music of Irreversible Entanglements has a throwback charm about it, shades of The Last Poets and others here. This is the spiritual heir to that stuff, for sure.
Vocalist Motherboard appears on half of the tracks here and those are the ones which seem simultaneously light as air and loaded with promise. On numbers like "Hold On" there's a sense of freedom in the grooves that's exhilirating. On "Keep Going" the vocals are more sinuous, with the music behind them offering scattershot rhythms and trumpet and sax squalls. This is free jazz but it's also remarkably concise. The pieces feel like self-contained statements of purpose, each one veering slightly off the stylistic path of the previous one. This energy is what makes Future Present Past such a lively listen. This record sounds remarkably off-the-cuff, and it's a testament to the strengths of the players involved that they can pull off something this heavy, and yet still keep that lightness in the grooves.
Future Present Past by Irreversible Entanglements is out today on Impulse.
More details via the official site.
[Photo: Annemone Take]