ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH
Ishmael Ensemble Visions of Light
Severn Songs
Two years on from their critically acclaimed debut album, , Bristol’s experimental jazz and electronic outfit, Ishmael Ensemble return with their wonderfully expansive sophomore album. Led by saxophonist and producer, Pete Cunningham, the band exude an innate understanding of the visceral interconnectivity of jazz, electronic and experimental. Their music is at once cinematic whilst also channelling UK leftfield dub and is no different, treading that same line with perfect balance and poise. The gentle, emotive and light opening of the record soon turns to a harder-edged, faster hypnotic fusion of electronic music and jazz. Exploring darker, tougher sounds that we have heard from the band before, Ishmael Ensemble drag us down into their heady, unfamiliar but thrillingly wild compositions. Almost psychedelic and with a nod to wider club culture, the propulsive rhythms and spiralling grooves spin you out and welcome you to a new reality. The second half of the album turns more peaceful and contented, as warm melodies and softer vocals join the beautiful strings and harmonies that stretch out across this vast and alluring landscape. Expressive and free flowing, but controlled and subtle, captures the evolution of a band that reveres innovation and creativity. Amongst all the sounds jostling for position on this record, it is the Ishmael Ensemble spirit of mesmeric crosspollination that takes centre stage once again. A band with a confident, distinctive sound that joins the dots between disparate cultures, Ishmael Ensemble are one of the true unifiers of the world.
