Lit up inside
The rapport rippling across this new guitar, sax, bass, drums release is one part of its magic. If it were a neon sign you’d see that rapport for miles burning long into the night.
Another is the adventuresomeness quality of the tunes that begin with the bustling, complex title track.
It’s Phronesis legend Jasper Høiby on bass. Any album he’s on is always lifted by his presence.
Front line duties are shaped around Ant Law’s guitar accompaniment to sax virtuoso Alex Hitchcock‘s labyrinthine lines that borrow much from bebop but 80 years on have plenty of other layers to their approach. The title track is a Law tune.
He’s on fire as last year’s Unified Theories proved. It’s far less MBASE a sound than he used to utilise at the beginning of his career when he first emerged and that’s all the more creative given that Law has carved out his own harmonic space and eco-system.
Hitchcock’s ‘Fear of Flying’ is the most intense of the tracks and again another big highlight of an album that is one of 2026’s very best.
The drummer of the album is Sun-Mi Hong – perhaps ‘Big Sun’ is a tribute aimed in her direction. Her very catchy grooves and fills on that same track help make it something of a headbobber. The dour melody while not exactly bluesy has a minor tang to it that is perfect with Law and Hitchcock bouncing off each other as energy levels surge.
Law tune ‘Prelude to Blue and Gold’ is a feature for Høiby at the beginning accompanied by Law’s pristine counterpoint, the two then doubling a melody that acts as rhythm for Hitchcock’s solo.
‘Buried Structure’ is a woozy ballad but ‘X Purposes’ has more of a Celtic lilt to it with polymetric flourishes in the bass part and oblique guitar accompaniment. It’s a big highlight.
– Hear Hitchcock at Magy’s Farm, Northern Ireland, on 14 March.
RECENTLY ON MARLBANK
Eliane Elias, Ao Vivo, Candid ***1/2
A very receptive San Francisco audience hangs on every note it seems, on this latest from Brazilian bossa nova piano and vocals icon Eliane Elias.
Alexander Hawkins, No Nation but Imagination, Intakt Records ***1/2
Abstractions dissolve into generous vamps and a freedom-loving swirl of flute, harp and electronics
Track of the Day – ‘C’è’ sung by Tosca and Silvia Pérez Cruz
Bit of a swoonsome listen for a Staurday. And why not