After successfully pivoting away from the saxophone and launching a new phase of his career with a bag of full of flutes and an exploratory and spiritual new sound, Shabaka is back with another albeit shorter helping of meditative tracks.

The Possession EP further develops Shabaka’s current musical trajectory while staying true to the blueprint he set out with his album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. The five cuts here all feature a guest artist, some returning after contributing to the last project.

To fans of that album, EP opener ‘Timepieces’ featuring rapper Billy Woods will feel familiar as it samples the track Age of Innocence. He had intended the album to have a beat driven section to compliment the percussion free compositions, using samples of the other cuts on the as the basis for these pieces. This track was part of that exploratory process.

Woods lays down flows over one of the most propulsive tracks to be released in this new phase of Shabaka’s career. It’s an abstract hip-hop inflected track that turns the source material on its head to create something new and highly engaging.

Regular collaborator of both Billy Woods and Shabaka, ELUCID lends spoken word vocals to I’ve been Listening, which returns to drum-less territory with gently plucked harp cascading over Shabaka’s flute and warm synth textures.

To The Moon is a pleasant but slightly forgettable near ambient cut featuring some-time rapper and fellow flautist André 3000 who notably moved to the instrument with his New Blue Sun project in 2023.

On Cycles of Growth, Shabaka creates a series of highly rhythmic and breathy flute phrases, which provide a perfect counterpoint to the vocals of guest singer Esperanza Spalding.

The peaceful and contemplative Reaching Back Towards Eternity sees the flute work weave in and out of delicately played piano phrases from former Shabaka And The Ancestors collaborator Nduduzo Makhathini. It’s a quiet but engaging end to a well-crafted EP.

With the compositions and guest features staying firmly in the same realm as Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, this EP does feel a bit like an addendum to that record, but it would be deeply unfair to label it as leftovers as the quality of the work here shines through.

What the release of Possession does show us, is that Shabaka is likely to keep on in this particular sonic groove at least for a while. He is nothing if not a restless innovator, from his former bands to this current phase – so it will be interesting to see how the work of the more meditative and spiritual flute playing iteration of Shabaka develops with future releases.

Whereas Possession probably won’t be the record to convert many new fans, it will at least keep those who have already stepped out with him on this part of the journey happy…until the next instalment.

from https://ukjazznews.com