The eclectic Afrofuturist jazz crew unite Black liberation politics with particle physics to exhilarating effect
This year has seen no shortage of motivational
music exhorting people to dance, protest or reconnect after shared trauma. But few fillips have been as instantly convincing as Open the Gates, the track heralding Irreversible Entanglements’ album of the same name.
“It’s energy time!” declares the Philadelphia-based poet and activist Moor Mother – AKA Camae Ayewa – as Luke Stewart’s sprung bass line plays off against a skitter of percussion from drummer Tcheser Holmes. Ayewa issues a command: “Open the gates!” The chorusing of Aquiles Navarro’s trumpet and Keir Neuringer’s saxophone send the track into ecstatic orbit, alive with political fury and spiritual possibility.