Released - September 2021
Label - Warp Records
Recent Warp Records signing Free Jazz harpist Nala Sinephro has produced a debut work that at times perfectly soundtracks the early morning sun hitting my bedroom door, complimenting it with such unobtrusive ease that I am compelled to do nothing more than enjoy the moment.
Through harp, electric piano, synthesizers and piano she has created genuinely new Free Jazz with moments of Cool. Though many will naturally compare a Free Jazz harpist to Alice Coltrane, as a devout Hindu Alice lent often towards devotional music and Space 1.8, whilst at times truly blissful, is more akin to contemporary players like Sam Gendel and Salami Rose Joe Louis, both architects of frequency and sonic illustrators of outer space.
In Jazz terms, at its most Spiritual it allows us to momentarily remember what it is to be free from desire, intrusive thoughts and domineering peers. At its most Free? It presents challenging repetitive motifs heady with dissonance and frustration.
“Her musical practice is rooted in the study of frequency and geometry and guided by the premise that sound moves matter.“
Flecks of Silver Apples, The Radiophonic Workshop, Broadcast, Sun Ra, Pink Floyd and Pharoah Sanders can all be heard, and Space 1.8 is in my opinion already of legendary status. A debut of this magnitude will continue to add to the ever rising reputation of London’s phenomenal Jazz Scene, further encouraging collaborations and interactions with artists in the U.S and around the world.
The nature of Jazz is that despite all the world’s woes, it cannot be suppressed. In the context of this project, Nala Sinephro’s Space 1.8 is an album the likes of which we as Free Jazz fans thought could never be seen again and in remaining true to the pure form and simultaneously advancing it has re-opened a long locked door of sophistication and expression.
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