Recording of the Week, The Comet Is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery

For aficionados of out-there space jazz who haven’t yet come across London-based trio The Comet is Coming, the band name alone will most prompt a sizeable blip on their internal Sun Ra-dar. If that doesn’t alert early-warning systems, then the title should - Trust In the Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery – and the sci-fi artwork will most likely seal the deal before even hearing a note. This is no “tribute to” homage though, despite the fact that saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings is an occasional member of the Arkestra (which is still touring a full 20 years after Mr Ra departed this planet and returned to Mars). Hutchings is a key figure on the vibrant London jazz scene and as a member of Sons of Kemet has helped shape a refreshingly new hybrid of jazz, Caribbean, rock and African music. Their third album Your Queen is a Reptile was one of the standout releases of last year in any genre, but where that band’s sound is more acoustic and organic (even to the extent of tuba replacing the electric bass) The Comet is Coming take us into far more synthetic and psychedelic territory.

The band came into being when Hutchings was attending a Soccer96 gig, Dan Leavers and Max Hallett’s synth and drums project, and leapt on stage with his sax and joined in. Renaming themselves King Shabaka, Danalogue and Betamax respectively, and borrowing the name from a Radiophonic Workshop tune, The Comet is Coming materialised. Signing to Impulse! makes perfect sense - beyond the Sun Ra connection they are a comfortable fit with the label’s more out-there lineage, stretching through Alice Coltrane, Liberation Orchestra, and Albert Ayler’s oddball late R&B crossover attempts. Influence-wise it’s clear that the group love all things seventies, both in terms of the gear they use - Danalogue boasts an impressive array of vintage synths, and also the melting pot of genres from the period - jazz fusion, progressive rock, and especially German prog, Can in particular. However, there is a whole host of more contemporary influences, electronica and trip and hip-hop, and not solely from Danalogue and Betamax’s side but also via Hutchings, who has notably worked with reclusive techno artist Floating Points.

It’s a record that really deserves to be heard in one sitting as only once it has ended is the architecture is fully appreciated. Take the way in which the two most adrenalin-fuelled tracks, Summon the Fire and Super Zodiac, bookend the mighty Blood of the Past. Serving as the spiritual heart of the album, the track builds with a grinding intensity (which could even appeal to open minded sludge metal fans), when the clouds part temporarily and rapper Kate Tempest delivers a stentorian state-of-humanity address. It’s a tremendously powerful moment, Tempest’s earth-mother appeal for sanity in an automated and rapidly de-humanised world balancing out the alpha-male churn below.

Is that an echo of Kim Wilde’s Kids in America I can hear in Summon the Fire? Easily the albums most catchy track, and playlisted on BBC 6Music, it underscores the approachability of the album. It also has something of the madcap energy of contemporary punk bands like Fat White Family – compare it with the sax on break on Breaking into Aldi. Hutchings sax and clarinet rarely resort to full-on skronk histrionics – his preferred M.O. is to obsessively gnaw away at phrases, extending melodic cells by increments rather than letting everything burn continuously. The snaking melody on Birth of Creation recalls those precious moments when Sun Ra would sit-out and let John Gilmore take a stroll.

This isn’t purely a solo showcase for Hutchings though - Leavers and Hallett provide a kaleidoscopic range of textures and grooves. They both handled the crisp production too, with a satisfyingly fat (with a ph) bottom end. Later in the album moments of lightness to emerge with cuts such as the beautiful Unity (any fusion album worth its salt needs at least one track called Unity!) providing moments of quasi Les Baxter exotica. This leads into the epilogue of The Universe Wakes Up, where sax harmonics mesh with notch-filtered synth frequencies to memorable effect.

Underlying the interstellar afro-futurist presentation is an important message. 'There is an incredible amount of historical evidence that suggests the control of a single leader leads to corruption and is not to the benefit of the community,' says Danalogue. 'There is a trust we have in each other to do what is best for the group. '

In a nutshell, there isn’t a weak moment on this thing. Nothing outstays its welcome, and the group wisely avoid the excessive run-times of many of their forebears, clocking in at a focused 45 minutes. By which time this writer was ready to strap back in and take another trip to out-there in order to come back here.