A welcomed second dose of The Comet Is Coming for 2019. The band have entered The Afterlife with their new six-song showpiece, a record that continues in the same space as their first release of the year, Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery, but is more of a come-down from the intense and piercing sound they delivered before.
The album opens with an almost eight-minute spoken-word piece, with guest Joshua Idehen delivering a poem named “All That Matters Is The Moments”. The start of this companion piece is darker, a juxtaposition to the much lighter and brighter we’ve heard before. It sets the tone for what comes across as rebuilding a world destroyed previously, a recreation of the decimation left by The Comet Is Coming earlier in 2019.
‘King Shabaka’ on sax plays softer, more typically jazzy notes on this release – a welcome reminder of both his incredible musical talent and outrageous lung capacity. The drums and synths are two slices of buttered bread, the flavoursome sax filling the middle with a taste of darkness and shadow. The journey into The Afterlife is one of necessity, a welcome rest for the ears that have taken a beating from the jazzy, D&B energy of Lifeforce. It feels like we’ve all died and gone to jazz heaven, this record being the release from the cosmic apocalypse we had all been spun into.
As the album continues, the blend of the three instruments continues to be an almost direct opposition to the mini-album it accompanies, a recovery from the heavy woodwind riffs into a less kinetic onslaught. Jazz is now as accessible as ever, the revolution continues.
Haiku Review
A dark companion
To the light that came before.
Jazz for the masses.
Listen to The Comet is Coming on Spotify and Apple Music.
