Where we Were

Colin Stetson's urgently composed dedication to his father proves that beauty and horror, fear and longing can exist at the same in the sublime of nature, says Guia Cortassa.

Drummer/producer Makaya McCraven traveled to London in October of 2017 to record material for a new album (which has since been titled Universal Beings & will come out on International Anthem in Fall of 2018). Over the course of 3 days in London, Makaya connected with first time collaborators (Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Joe Armon-Jones, Soweto Kinch, Ashley Henry, Daniel Casimir and Kamaal Williams), and in addition to the Universal Beings studio sessions, did 2 improvised performances as part of a 2-night showcase called CHICAGOxLONDON presented by International Anthem & EZH Mag at legendary UK Jazz hub Total Refreshment Centre (TRC).

Saramaccan Sound (Suriname) are a brother duo - Dwight Sampie and Robert Jabini - who write and perform flowing acoustic songs sung in Saramaccan, the language from the Americas with the most African elements. Their debut album was recorded in situ by Grammy winner Ian Brennan (Parchman Prison Prayer, Ustad Saami, The Good Ones) along a remote riverside in the Amazon region of Suriname. The lyrics are topical and reference everyday strife such as the rising tides and floods in the area due to global warming.

Since the release of 2015’s Love Songs for Robots, Montreal art-rock savant Patrick Watson has endured all manner of hardships—the death of his mother, the end of a long-term relationship, the departure of drummer Robbie Kuster, and the loss of a friend to suicide. They’re the sort of life-altering events that can’t help but filter down into an artist’s work. But while the title of his eponymous band’s sixth album, Wave, references the emotional tsunami he was forced to navigate, Watson refused to let grief be his guiding principle. “I just wanted to make a really simple and beautiful record—a little bit like Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden,” Watson tells Apple Music. That focus yields some of the most elegant, lyrically direct songwriting of Watson’s career, as he deftly threads Lennon-esque melodies and lean acoustic/piano arrangements with orchestration. But Wave’s spare canvas also leaves Watson with enough space to indulge his love of off-kilter experimentation—as he explains, making a low-volume record is not necessarily the same thing as making a low-key one.