Nubya Garcia’s easy titles conceal worlds of complexity. Supply, her 2020 debut, paid tribute to the British saxophonist’s roots in London jazz and the Afro-Caribbean diasporic sounds that impressed her. Odyssey, the follow-up, is a wilder, extra expansive work—a veritable quest of a report sporting ornate orchestral preparations, meticulously layered mixes, and numerous twists and turns.
That mixture doesn’t all the time make for simple listening, no less than initially. Supply was adventurous, however its robust melodic strains and sunny disposition had been comparatively simple on the ears, helped alongside by a wholesome dose of hip-hop, soul, and reggae. Odyssey is extra concerned: a mournful, imposing work made up of tons of of transferring components. At occasions—akin to on the frantic title observe, or surging towards the climax of the turbulent opener, “Daybreak,” that includes Esperanza Spalding—it seems like the entire band is soloing concurrently, a disorienting but exhilarating expertise. “The Seer” feels nearly enraged: Sam Jones’ hulking, broken-beat-inspired drums shatter towards Joe Armon-Jones’ darkly dramatic piano jabs, Daniel Casimir’s impatient double bass, and Garcia’s tenor, which has the on-edge really feel of a headache on a damp afternoon.
A pair of calmer songs fill out the album’s midsection, however even these aren’t precisely relaxed, regardless of the slower tempos. Georgia Anne Muldrow’s quavering vocal melody on “We Stroll in Gold” by no means fairly appears to resolve, and the tune is charged with the nervous air of a coming storm, finally constructing in the direction of an irascible climax. The string association of “Water’s Path” spins and bobbles like a wind-up toy because it picks away at James Douglas’ opulent cello lead. Generally this depth feels deliciously contradictory: In “Solstice,” the band probes the interior battle between skittish, flustered drums and Garcia’s luxurious and supremely assured tenor saxophone lead.
The modern genres that Garcia explored on Supply are much less current on Odyssey. Jones’ exhilarating drum strains sometimes resemble drum’n’bass or damaged beat; “Set It Free,” that includes Kokoroko’s Richie, bounds with the revitalizing spring of hip-hop; and the closing “Triumphance” is, for all intents and functions, dub jazz. However these are exceptions. Of their place are orchestral preparations whose majestic air brings to thoughts the symphonic jazz of Kamasi Washington’s The Epic.
Very like Washington’s masterpiece, Odyssey requires a level of focus, however the album is all of the richer for being gradual to disclose its hand. New highlights seem with each spin. Contemplate, for instance, how drums and piano play a recreation of cat and mouse midway by “Odyssey”; or Garcia’s lush saxophone tone driving the band by an unsettling sequence of chord modifications towards the beginning of “In Different Phrases, Residing”; or the ever-so-subtle reggae contact underpinning “Readability.” One other sitting would possibly yield a totally completely different set of revelations.
