Sometimes it's hard to put into words what makes something special, you know? That's because once in a great while a reviewer is faced with a release that just defies easy description, even if the reviewer knows in the heart that the work in question is altogether extraordinary. And that's how I feel about Where Future Unfolds from Damon Locks and Black Monument Ensemble. The album, out on Friday from International Anthem, is not only one of the highlights of this week's full slate of new music, but it's already a strong contender for one of the best records of 2019.
Where Future Unfolds is, at its heart, a sonic collage played by real musicians. It's almost as if Damon Locks sought to replicate the effect of hearing a mix-tape, only he had actual musicians play the pieces, and recite the spoken word pieces. It's the sort of approach that feels both odd and affecting upon first listen, with the person hearing this easily feeling the immediacy of the music here. "Sounds Like Now", one of the highlights on Where Future Unfolds, features Angel Bat Dawid on clarinets and Dana Hall on drums, along with vocals from alumni of the Chicago Children's Choir. The cut is part jazz, part gospel, and altogether spiritual in the realest sense of that word. And while "Solar Power" eases closer to free jazz, the direct "Rebuild a Nation" is very nearly a throwback soul song, albeit one anchored by some insistent percussion. The more languid and quietly-insistent "The Colors That You Bring" mixes spoken word samples with choral vocals that are breezy in tone, and yet utterly serious and soulful.
On Where Future Unfolds, Damon Locks is orchestrating the kind of ensemble work that is as comparable to compositions by Mingus and Oliver Nelson as it is to, say, the work of musicians who soundtrack a modern dance performance, which makes perfect sense because when performed live, Where Future Unfolds would be accompanied by dancers from the Move Me Soul group. And while "Power", a neat blending of Seventies soul motifs and Public Enemy-sample-worthy rhetoric, provides the big sonic catharsis this record seems to have been building towards, the final cut, "From a Spark to a Fire" is the epilogue, one punctuated by the tones of clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid. The cut, part fiery, futuristic gospel, part funk-rock, is the record in miniature, the ebbs and flows of the music from the large ensemble swaying behind this number's sampled beats. The overall effect here is, like elsewhere on the album, something spiritual, the sound of a movement of the soul that's larger than one's self, and one that's determinedly political. For everything Damon Locks has attempted here, and for the big artistic gestures he's coordinating here, he deserves credit, because, on the whole, Where Future Unfolds is a gloriously effective, emotive, and essential record.
Where Future Unfolds is out on Friday via International Anthem.
[Photos: Chris Hershman and Daris Jasper]