Beyond Albedo

Leeds quartet Beyond Albedo modernise an otherwise traditional foundation of guitar, drums and sax with synths and electronic beats. On debut EP CONTACT, they balance straight-up tributes to their eclectic influences with a new creative vision.

Opener ‘Cosmic Lighthouse’ illustrates this tension. Synths and sax, shifting carnatically around a central drone, recall the East-West fusion and afro-spiritualism of Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders. The effect is that of surveying the deserted monuments of ancient alien empires. Programmed drums soon kick in, however, and these jazz tropes are decimated the moment they’re established. Hazy evocations of the past give way to pulsing sci-fi electronica, synths now driving the piece with bold, saw-toothed vitality.

Successive tracks reconcile, rather than contrast, the group’s contradictory elements. ‘Good Egg’ captures the cheerful, easy-listening vibes of fifties soul jazz, with keyboards that channel buzzing electric organ tones. The transition from polite dialogue between organ and sax to incomprehensible free jazz skronk is seamless.

The frenetic, ramshackle groove of ‘Tropical Protein’, littered with primitive synth blips and Casio-preset toms, brings to mind both the budget beats of South African electronic music and the exploded afro-dance-punk of Lizzy Mercier Descloux. The strangled sax riff embodies a nervous punk energy, and it transforms as the track progresses in a climactic sequence of counter-rhythmic upward modulations, the mounting tension eventually released in unbridled, freely-improvised runs and flurries.

With electronic and jazz elements uniting on a shared foundation of danceable rhythm, the EP closes with the group’s most successful experiment.

Andrew Trayford - Now Then Magazine