When British saxophonist and composer
Alabaster DePlume
(aka
Angus Fairbairn
) recorded 2022's double-length
GOLD
, he and his musicians created a splendidly sonorous double album from joint efforts in spontaneous composition and collective compositional development. Holed up for weeks at London's Total Refreshment Centre, they celebrated music-making itself as a communal process. The album's sound emerged from focusing on the relationship possibilities among collaborators in the moment.
DePlume
and company recorded far more material than could be used on
. Following a period of intense touring, he closely listened to the extant material. Compelled, he began assembling that music in new ways -- adding, editing, subtracting, recombining, and rearranging.
Come with Fierce Grace
offers 12 mostly instrumental selections with three vocals cuts with alternating singers who include Guinean percussionist/vocalist
Falle Nioke
, British songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
Donna Thompson
, and drummer/vocalist
Momoko Watanabe Gill
MettaShiba
), as well as a four-voice female backing chorus. The
sessions (and these by association) featured a large cast of players.
employed drummers
Tom Skinner
(
Sons of Kemet
,
London Brew
),
Sarathy Korwar
UPAJ Collective
) and
Ursula Russell
; bassists
Tom Herbert
Polar Bear
Ruth Goller
Melt Yourself Down
), and
Matt Webb
; guitarists
Rozi Plain
Conrad Singh
, and
James Howard
; pianist
Matthew Bourne
; and cellist/vocalist
Hannah Miller
. The same players aside, this differs considerably from its predecessor. These tunes aren't lush but are organic and embryonic. They're not populated with endless retakes and edits; they are nearly raw, intimate, and candid in presentation and production. The music is loose, airy, open, exploratory, and more often than not, gentle.
Opener "Sibomandi" contains a circular bass line and woolly saxophone vamp framing hand percussion and bass as
Nioke
soulfully intones the lyric like a chant. "To That Voice and Say" combines Nigerian highlife, post-bop, and neo-soul grooves introduced by
's rippling tenor. Halfway in, it shifts to noirish, skeletal jazz-funk. Neither the sequential "Give Me Away" or "Fall on Flowers" sound like fully developed ideas, but both are minimal and entrancing. The ballad "Did You Know" is sung by
Gill
. Her slippery, nocturnal instrument, even in its restraint, is elegant and resonant with poignant romantic emotion. "Levels of Human" offers an unusual guide vamp from the bass, saxophone, hi-hat, and tom-toms, then follows an infectious yet etheric ballad framed by the rhythm section. "The Best Thing in the World" follows a simple six-note melody framed by circular tom-toms, bass, a theremin-esque synth, cello, and saxophone as it gently strolls, staggers, and whispers. "Naked Like Water" weds psychedelia, ambience, and modal jazz as
Thompson
's vocal hovers, swoops, and soars above the smoky groove. Given its laid-back, eerily nocturnal sonic profile,
is easy to embrace on its own -- even if some tracks lack distinctive identities. No matter its release as a separate entity,
is part and parcel of
; it's not a mere sequel but a truly worthy companion album. ~ Thom Jurek