Many new releases are anticipated but few have the added importance of Matana Roberts fifth instalment in their Coin Coin series ‘In The Garden’, due via Constellation on 29th September. The jazz composer, saxophonist and multi-disciplinary artist’s significant song cycle began in 2011 with ‘Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres’. This staggeringly visceral free jazz release announced Roberts’ commitment to develop a 12-part epic exploration of African-American culture and tradition, rooted in archival history and expressed in ground breaking song and sound collages.
Three Coin Coin chapters have followed, ‘Mississippi Moonchile’ (2013), ‘river run thee’ (2015) and ‘Memphis’ (2019), each reflecting meticulously researched lived experiences through Roberts’ incomparable web of jazz, improv, post rock, electronics and spoken word. This has been music that shifts intriguingly, always genre – inclusive and distinctly Matana Roberts.
So now the journey continues with Chapter Five, the story of a woman from Roberts’ ancestral pathway who died following complications from an illegal abortion which also interrogates today’s threat to reproductive rights in the States and beyond. Soundtracked by a new band including the likes of Stuart Bogie (Antibalas/TV On The Radio) and Cory Smythe (Ingrid Laubrock /Anthony Braxton) plus production duties taken by TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, the promise is of more avant rock, experimental jazz dynamism shaped by Roberts’ compositional flare.
You catch the drift from the preview just released featuring the new album’s opening sequence ‘we said / different rings / unbeknownst’. From the ticking tension of triangle alarms to the groaning monotone brass drones, there’s a cloying back-alley darkness here. A marching band with trilling pipes that collapses into improv, the constant chatter of background voices all adds to the sense of unreal. ‘unbeknownst’ then sets a scene with Matana’s powerful word-speak and some mournful sax transported by post classical chamber tones. “Well they didn’t know I was electric, spirited, alive and free” gets spoken. The perfect trailer – you need to know more.
Pre-order your copy of ‘Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden…’ by Matana Roberts from your local record store or direct from Constellation HERE
Matana Roberts will also be touring Europe and the UK this summer with performances ranging from solo and group improvisation to various presentations of previous Coin Coin chapters :
24.08.2023 (solo) Oslo NO • Blow Out Festival
25.08.2023 (solo) Helsinki FI • G Livelab
29.08.2023 (solo) Stockholm SE • Fasching
30.08.2023 (solo) Copenhagen DK • Alice
31.08.2023 (duo) London UK • Moment’s Notice
02.09.2023 (solo) Glasgow UK • Old Hairdressers
03.09.2023 (Coin Coin Chapter Three A/V show)Birmingham UK • Supersonic Festival
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