Naïssam Jalal - Healing Rituals

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 190, August/September 2023.

Naïssam Jalal
Healing Rituals
Les Couleurs du Son (48 mins)

Syrian-French flautist Naïssam Jalal has been somewhat overlooked as a composer and bandleader, but with this album – her ninth! – hopefully that will change. Healing Rituals is Jalal’s paean to the therapeutic and healing abilities of music, with each of its eight pieces a ‘ritual’ dedicated to a power of nature – wind, sun, hills, rivers, ground, forests, moon and mist. It’s a gem.

Flutes and voice lead a quartet with cello, double bass and drum kit, a classy chamber ensemble that allows for beautiful harmonies while avoiding dense chords. The compositions occupy the worlds of jazz and classical without sitting fully in either, and Jalal uses that inbetweenness to introduce many other soundworlds. She is clearly a passionate scholar of many flute traditions, and their influence seeps through the whole album as she channels the Fula tambin, Hindustani bansuri, Ethiopian washint and Irish low-whistle as well as the European classical concert flute and the Arabic ney of her own formal education. It’s all given a thoughtful, sensitive and playful treatment where energy flows freely without ever boiling over.

This is music that defies categories, instead breathing free like the nature of its inspiration – Naïssam Jalal’s skills as a musician and composer are hard to ignore.

Qwalia - Sound and Reason

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 190, August/September 2023.

Qwalia
Sound and Reason
Alberts Favourites (41 mins)

Four of London’s most dynamic musicians enter the studio in April 2021. Then follows a two-day voyage of non-stop, all-improvised sonic exploration, rooted in contemporary funk- and hip-hop-informed jazz, with elements of downtempo and trip-hop, an 80s synth aesthetic, hints of dub, ambient and Afrobeat and nods to Afrofuturism. They emerge with 13 hours of music on record. Two years later, and that material has been boiled down and massaged into a lovely 41-minute debut album.

The quartet is Tal Janes on guitar, Ben Reed on bass, Joseph Costi on keys and bandleader Yusuf Ahmed on drums – each member provides a vital role, and their layers of melody and atmosphere reward repeated listening: maybe this time a bassline will jump out at you, or some inspired guitar vamps, or a particularly pleasing synth pad. The most striking track is ‘Vagherah’, which is built around a sample of the great qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan speaking at a London concert. Placed in front of a super draggy beat, it gives an interesting effect of Khan rapping – it’s very strange but it works really well.

What a way for Qwalia to make their mark. Definitely one to keep an ear on.

Captain Planet - Sounds Like Home

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 190, August/September 2023.

Captain Planet
Sounds Like Home
Bastard Jazz Recordings (57 mins)

Building on the stylistic journey of his 2020 album NO VISA, American DJ and producer Captain Planet brings retro styles to the fore within a world of electronica. The previous album was a well-rounded, intelligent fusion while still providing a fun dance soundtrack – Sounds Like Home falls flat in comparison.

That’s not to say it’s not technically and musically accomplished. It has Captain Planet’s usual globetrotting, with a large number of guest artists and an even wider array of international (mainly pan-American) influences that are handled competently alongside styles such as light funk, disco, acid jazz, synth pop and synthwave. The problem is, with so much going on, it all starts to blend together into fairly cliché tropical pop. The retro influences are polished to an unnatural shine, and any potentially quirky or challenging edges are sanded smooth. Occasional solos provide the highlights, but these are disappointingly few and far between.

It’s light, loungey dance music. Unfortunately it feels less like the sounds of home and more like the sounds of a hotel bar: pleasant and enjoyable for its vibes as background mood music, but ultimately lacking in nutritional value.