Bleep

The work of many years of touring feeds Swirling, the first new record to appear in twenty years from the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra. Lead by the fearsome directorship of maestro Marshall Allen, the LP is every bit as vital and expansive as any Arkestra release, and indeed any of their LPs since before their former visionary leader Sun Ra departed the planet in 1993. Billed as a celebration of his legacy, Swirling still represents the group’s forward-facing attitude. Horns and big band tones snake between form and free-form on the likes of ‘Satellites Are Spinning / Lights on a Satellite’, a sonic imprint that imposes a meaty groove and a monstrously swinging blues sway on the likes of ‘Seductive Fantasy’ and ‘Space Loneliness’.