BELL & MASAL, ANDY - Common Primitives

"Common Primitives is the second collaborative album between Andy Bell ( Ride guitarist, Oasis bassist) and Essex-based harp and synth duo Masal . It's a stunning, meditative collection which veers from kosmische to astral jazz by way of Turkish folk tunes and all the way back again. Their first outing, 2023's acclaimed Tidal Love Numbers , consisted of four lengthy and almost ambient tracks and is included here on vinyl for the first time as part of a two-record set with the new album. By contrast, the seven tracks that make up Common Primitives are almost concise, but also a lot more layered and complex. "We tend to work from initial, free-jammed ideas, building form and arrangement from there," explains Masal's Al Johnson . "Above all, we believe you should go where the vibe takes you." For Andy, that vibe was very much jazz legend Pharoah Sanders ' classic 1977 album Pharoah . "It puts me into a hypnotic state," he explains. "That's why I worked with more guitar loops on this record. The Tisziji Muñoz part on 'Harvest Time' has had me in a vice-like grip for the last three years and it arrives here via the Vini Reilly filter." For Özlem Simsek , there is nostalgia, too, and she even adds vocals as well as her heavenly harp to the opening track, "After Kâtibim," based on a traditional Turkish folk song she had sung as a child growing up in Istanbul. From there, the album takes listeners on a real journey, with the apt, impressionistic titles added by Andy once it had all been pieced together. There's the beautiful, elegant "I Swear We Are Infinite"; the atmospheric "Yuzuki Fighting Spirit" and the beatific "Soap And Water." "Tower Of Babylon" was named after the novelette by Ted Chiang , its structured creation reflecting that in the story; first single "The Morning Of The Trip" finds Andy playing his guitar "as if it was a waterfall". The journey ends with "Rudi's Dream -- The Third Bardo," the trio accelerating onto the autobahn for a krautrock crescendo inspired by their studio's resident cat."