Afro Futuristic Dreams

Afro Futuristic Dreams is the fourth album from Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids since signing to Strut in 2012. Recorded between London and San Francisco with producer Malcolm Catto (he also helmed 2020s Shaman!), it features many of the same players in an expanded lineup. Ackamoors company cuts across inspirations from Afrobeat, avant and spiritual jazz, psychedelic blues, mutant funk, theater, spoken word, and more in a soulfully idiosyncratic sound of their own creation. In addition to his core band -- electric guitarist Bobby Cobb, flutist Margaux Simmons, bassist Ruben Ramos Medina, and violinist/vocalist Sandra Poindexter -- are trumpeter Aaron Atkinson, trombonist Greg Stephens, drummers Ernesto Marichales and George Hearst, keyboardist Ben Maddox, percussionist Bradie Speller, a string quartet, and a small vocal chorus. In addition to saxophones, Ackamoor sings (think Leon Thomas), plays organ, piano, keytar, and percussion instruments. The leader makes glorious use of this larger ensemble. Afro Futuristic Dreams offers ten tracks that sprawl across 76 minutes, without performance or production excesses. The title track is introduced by the chorus chanting in four-part harmony, with hypnotic drums and percussion and Cobbs mean, circular blues guitar vamp weaving a spell. Meanwhile, alto sax and muted brass voice a second chorus line before melding modal and North African folk themes with squiggly electronic noise, funky kit breaks, and swampy, psychedelic blues. The 13-minute "Thank You God" evokes the inspiration of John and Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. Sparse, spacy, improv from cello, harp, piano, electronics, and other instruments eventually emerge with a mournful collective vamp. The chorus chants the names of God in gospelized response with alto sax, before Poindexter claims the lead vocal. Guitars, saxophones, strings, and percussion join the chorus in a transcendent fusion of spiritual jazz and African highlife, as instrumentalists trade fours with the singers. "Police Dem" joins bubbling Afrobeat to American funk and steamy dub. Cobb and Ackamoor noisily guide the singers, who foist indictments of racism, brutality, and inhumanity on law enforcement in an approach that recalls the raw, confrontational style of Fela and Africa 70. "Truth to Power" joins pulsing, dissonant strings with layered percussion and a circular bassline; Cobb and Ackamoor engage in rowdy call-and-response improv that travels to the very edge or harmonic logic before Poindexters violin joins the urgent conversation to draw them back inside. "Re-Memory" offers Ackamoors approach to 21st century spiritual soul. Strings and horns create an exotic backdrop, and percussion, bass, and reverbed guitar erect a ledge for the voices who croon homage to those who came before. Instrumental "Garland Rose" weds modal jazz to processional, organic percussion, bass, and flute. "Nice It Up" employs kalimbas and talking drums, pan flutes, lively strings, and saxophones to create an original Afro Futurist folk song before a reprise of "Thank You God" carries the set out. Afro Futuristic Dreams sums up Ackamoors career and leaps forward, exploring myriad traditions, styles, and harmonic and rhythmic combinations that further musical conversations to an as-yet-unseen creative horizon. ~ Thom Jurek