Come With Fierce Grace

by Alabaster DePlume

Overview

When British saxophonist and composer Alabaster DePlume (aka Angus Fairbairn) recorded 2022's double-length GOLD, he and his musicians created a splendidly sonorous double album from joint efforts in spontaneous composition and collective compositional development. Holed up for weeks at London's Total Refreshment Centre, they celebrated music-making itself as a communal process. The album's sound emerged from focusing on the relationship possibilities among collaborators in the moment. DePlume and company recorded far more material than could be used on GOLD. Following a period of intense touring, he closely listened to the extant material. Compelled, he began assembling that music in new ways -- adding, editing, subtracting, recombining, and rearranging. Come with Fierce Grace offers 12 mostly instrumental selections with three vocals cuts with alternating singers who include Guinean percussionist/vocalist Falle Nioke, British songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Donna Thompson, and drummer/vocalist Momoko Watanabe Gill (aka MettaShiba), as well as a four-voice female backing chorus. The GOLD sessions (and these by association) featured a large cast of players. DePlume employed drummers Tom Skinner (Sons of Kemet, London Brew), Sarathy Korwar (UPAJ Collective) and Ursula Russell; bassists Tom Herbert (London Brew, Polar Bear), Ruth Goller (Melt Yourself Down), and Matt Webb; guitarists Rozi Plain, Conrad Singh, and James Howard; pianist Matthew Bourne; and cellist/vocalist Hannah Miller. The same players aside, this differs considerably from its predecessor. These tunes aren't lush but are organic and embryonic. They're not populated with endless retakes and edits; they are nearly raw, intimate, and candid in presentation and production. The music is loose, airy, open, exploratory, and more often than not, gentle. Opener "Sibomandi" contains a circular bass line and woolly saxophone vamp framing hand percussion and bass as Nioke soulfully intones the lyric like a chant. "To That Voice and Say" combines Nigerian highlife, post-bop, and neo-soul grooves introduced by DePlume's rippling tenor. Halfway in, it shifts to noirish, skeletal jazz-funk. Neither the sequential "Give Me Away" or "Fall on Flowers" sound like fully developed ideas, but both are minimal and entrancing. The ballad "Did You Know" is sung by Gill. Her slippery, nocturnal instrument, even in its restraint, is elegant and resonant with poignant romantic emotion. "Levels of Human" offers an unusual guide vamp from the bass, saxophone, hi-hat, and tom-toms, then follows an infectious yet etheric ballad framed by the rhythm section. "The Best Thing in the World" follows a simple six-note melody framed by circular tom-toms, bass, a theremin-esque synth, cello, and saxophone as it gently strolls, staggers, and whispers. "Naked Like Water" weds psychedelia, ambience, and modal jazz as Thompson's vocal hovers, swoops, and soars above the smoky groove. Given its laid-back, eerily nocturnal sonic profile, Come with Fierce Grace is easy to embrace on its own -- even if some tracks lack distinctive identities. No matter its release as a separate entity, Come with Fierce Grace is part and parcel of GOLD; it's not a mere sequel but a truly worthy companion album. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	09/08/2023
Label:	International Anthem
UPC:	0789993993703
Rank:	55395

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alabaster DePlume   Primary Artist,Guitar,Voices,Sax (Tenor),Synthesizer
Matthew Bourne   Piano
Hannah Miller   Cello,Voices
Matt Webb   Double Bass
Tom Herbert   Double Bass
Luisa Gerstein   Voices
Donna Thompson   Voices,Featured Artist
James Howard   Guitar
Rosa Slade   Voices
Rozi Plain   Guitar
Ruth Goller   Bass
Tom Skinner   Drums
Natalie Pela   Voices
Sarathy Korwar   Drums,Tabla
Ursula Russell   Drums
Mikey Chestnutt   Synthesizer
Falle Nioke   Voices,Percussion,Featured Artist
Momoko Gill   Vocals,Featured Artist
Kenichi Iwasa   Percussion
Conrad Singh   Guitar
Elly Condron   Voices

Technical Credits

Kristian Craig Robinson   Engineer
Chris Almeida   Insert Photography
Dave Vettraino   Mixing
David Allen   Mastering
Raimund Wong   Artwork
Alabaster DePlume   Arranger,Producer