The Awakening - Mirage - VINYL LP

On Chrystia Cabral's fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transformsher acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror. Cabral's lyrics for Portrait of MyHeart tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approachof much of her previous work for something pointed into her human heart. Thealbum's thematic forthrightness is echoed in it's arrangements, making it thesharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date. From the dark minimalism ofher earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021's The TurningWheel to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has provedagain and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.The title track, with it's propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of InchI don'tbelong here,Inch is the most potent embodiment of the album's turn toward emotional directness. Once the main melody emerged, Cabral used the song as a toolto process her anxiety as a performer and opted for a tighter, more rock-orientedcomposition. This transformation mirrors the album's broader shift toward energyand immediacy, driven by the core band of Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), whose collaboration uncovers newcontours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, butpresenting the songs for Portrait of My Heart to her bandmates helped her discovertheir eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers-TheTurning Wheel mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA collaborator Rob Bisel,and Yves Tumor producer Psymun.Key guest contributions further shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) deliversSPELLLING's first duet on InchMount Analogue,Inch Turnstile guitarist Pat McCroryturns Cabral's original piano demo for InchAlibiInch into the crunchy, riff-y version thatappears on the record, while Zulu's Braxton Mar

The only InchgroupInch on the Black Jazz roster, The Awakening today should be heralded as one of the great bands in early '70s jazz. That they're not is the result of the Black Jazz tag's distribution woes; witness the fact that original copies of both of their records for the imprint command prices in the hundreds of dollars if you can find them at all. Mirage is their second (1973) album, the last one they made together; it boasts the same Chicago-based, AACM-centric line-up as the first, with the notable addition of bassist Rufus Reid on a couple of tracks. Spiritual jazz, free jazz, soul jazz, fusion jazz, you name it-The Awakening take all those threads common to early '70s African-American music and, like any great ensemble, weave them into a beautiful sonic garment that's greater than the sum of it's parts. The Mirage is a bit less political/pan-African than Hear, Sense and Feel, it's predecessor, which definitely owed some of it's feel to the band's Art Ensemble of Chicago/AACM roots; this record is a little more abstract, a little more varied in it's moods and textural coloring, yet no less powerful and transporting. This limited (to 500 copies) blue with black swirl vinyl edition comes with liner notes by Pat Thomas. A record to discover, savor, and treasure.

Frida Touray - Homebody [VINYL LP] Colored Vinyl, Green, Ltd Ed date 09/12/2025