Abrams, Joshua – “Represencing” – [Eremite]

Thurston Hunger   10/11/2012   12-inch, Jazz

Magical mystical musical tour that fills the streets
of Chicago with the sands of the Sahara. Abrams is
the composer/centerpiece here and his giumbri playing
is a steady hypnotic backbone for each track. The guimbri
you may recognize from various “gnawa” releases that
KFJC has dug over the years. It’s got that snappy
string sound, thick vibrations, notes roll in
circles…but attached to that chordate chordophone
are all kinds of interesting limbs. Abrams brings
in stellar Chi-fi players to give each track a
unique flavor. “Sound Talisman” has a shimmer of
Branca-esque guitar, “San Anto” ricochets the guimbri
off Chad Taylor’s gongs…harmonium is a natural fit
with the guimbri, hovering like the heat on tracks
like “Enter Mountain Amulet” (where it is played by
Lisa Alvarado who also contributed the cover art!).
“The Ba” may be the Egyptian birdlike soul, but here
it delivers the most jazz qua jazz vibe, but this is
an outstanding release that defies easy categorization.
Psych rock fans should enjoy, alongside trance sans
synth beats, jazz-bos to weirdos, everybody get on
board. We’ve missed the last three Eremite releases,
including another one from Joshua and some Sultan-ic
celebrations, we need to fix that. Pronto!

-Thurston Hunger