The Comet Is Coming - The Afterlife

The Guardian 80

(Impulse)

Arriving just nine months after the London trio’s mould-breaking Trust in the Life Force, and recorded at the same time, there were fears this “companion piece” would prove a mere add-on. In reality The Afterlife has its own, distinct mood, often gentler and more sombre than the techno attack of Life Force and the better for it.

Still, there are ferocious moments in the interplay between Shabaka Hutchings’s saxophone, the synth squalls of Dan Leavers and the mutating beats of drummer Max Hallett. Lifeforce Pt II yokes an edgy sax riff to a growling electronic backdrop for a blast into a sci-fi future. All That Matters Is the Moments arrives in a clatter of reggae drums and poet Joshua Idehen proclaiming “the earth has cracked, the mountains popped”, his dystopian visons grounded in south London cityscapes.

Pitchfork 76

The cosmic fusion group skewers the jazz-trio format as it’s typically understood, flipping the minimalist palette into an electrifying, apocalyptic sound.