'A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole' is the latest album from London-based composer-poet-activist-improviser Alabaster DePlume, his first major work following 2022’s 'GOLD' and 2020's 'To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol 1'.

The 11-song album covers all of DePlume’s musical touchstones: lush and gentle instrumentals informed by ghostly ancient folk melodies; groove-focused rhythm explorations as a bed for self-searching spoken declamations; sweeping and beautiful string arrangements (in this case by Macie Stewart) set against his trademark vibrato-infused tenor sax whispermoan.

Most of all, 'A Blade...' finds Alabaster DePlume at his most purposeful and direct yet, building on foundations laid through years of writing and touring to craft this ambitious work. Here lyrical explorations of healing, dignity, and struggle set the tone of the music itself—the mysterious and tense sensuality of the Melody Nelson-like strings on 'Form a V'; the playful and idiosyncratic echos of the 1960s British Folk scene on 'Invincibility'; the golden-era Elvrum level of vocal intimacy on 'Too True' - it’s all handed over with such familiarity and intention that the album’s full sonic grandness reveals itself at an IV-drip-pace.

"A blade, because a blade is whole, it has forgiven itself, and because it will take a small piece of our opposite, for us to be complete. A blade has marked out these former selves on my hand, a blade made the lines that divine us and the blade is whole. A blade. While I forgive myself, and heal, and lead us in healing. We can only forgive each other once we forgive ourselves. We can only heal eachother while we heal ourselves." - Alabaster DePlume

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Immediately reminiscent of some of the more off-piste Constellation Records excursions (Matana Roberts, Eric Chenaux etc), Alabaster DePlume's music is rich in jazz tradition but also swims with avant garde folk influence, with Plume's voice providing a welcome counter to the deep, oft dissonant instrumental element.

TRACK LISTING

1. Oh My Actual Days
2. Thank You My Pain
3. Invincibility
4. Form A V
5. A Paper Man
6. Who Are You Telling, Gus
7. Prayer For My Sovereign Dignity
8. Kuzushi
9. Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem
10. Too True
11. That Was My Garden

Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem. Alabaster DePlume and his live band of Roxi Plain, Conrad Singh and Momoko Gill caught fresh off tour and recorded to tape at London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre by in-house engineer Kristian “Capitol K” Robinson, mixed by legendary UK producer Dilip Harris.

In order to record the compositions in his critically acclaimed 2022 release GOLD, Alabaster DePlume instilled a culture of creativity by leading his ensembles In spontaneous composition and development. This resulted in an abundance of material that he has since produced and arranged, resulting in this collection.

The direction here is firmly rooted in performance and less focused on post-production, featuring DePlume’s go-to collaborators in the London scene, and yielding particular space to percussionist Tom Skinner (The Smile, Sons of Kemet), vocalist Momoko Gill, and percussionist / vocalist Donna Thompson. The result is a raw, beautiful, percussive, group music, in-the-room music. You’re there. You’re here. Take a listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sibomandi (feat. Falle Nioke)
2. What Can It Take
3. To That Voice And Say
4. Greek Honey Slick (feat. Tom Skinner)
5. Give Me Away
6. Fall On Flowers
7. Did You Know (feat. Momoko Gill)
8. Levels Of Human
9. Not Even Sobbing
10. The Best Thing In The World
11. Naked Like Water (feat. Donna Thompson)
12. Broken Again

Gold, the follow-up to Alabaster DePlume's widely-acclaimed, 2020-released cinematic instrumental LP To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1, introduces the world to the artist’s truest self. That is... though DePlume’s now known across the globe as the saxophonist who created that collection of wonderful, wordless music, he’s most known to fervent fans in his home zone of London, UK, as an outspoken poet and orator, beloved for his inspiring words of encouragement and sing-a-long-able songs about vulnerability, humanity, and courage. Gold is a sprawling double album that finds DePlume expressing both sides of his artistic character beautifully: (1) an articulate singer and songwriter who invokes the melodious crooning of Donovan as much as Devendra Banhart or Syd Barrett, whose tunes are almost like mini-sermons, full of existential comedy and spiritual enlightenment; and (2) a brilliant composer of simple, soothing, and viscerally nourishing instrumental melodies, with a gift for expanding them into intrepid collective improvisations, led by a delicate and distinguished saxophone tone that conjures the fluttery sweetness of the great Ethiopique Getatchew Mekurya.

TRACK LISTING

1.A Gente Acaba (Vento Em Rosa)
2. Don’t Forget You’re Precious
3. Fucking Let Them
4. The World Is Mine
5. The Sound Of My Feet On This Earth Is A Song To Your Spirit
6. I’m Gonna Say Seven
7. Do You Know A Human Being When You See One?
8. Visitors YT15B – Jerusalem, Palestine
9. I’m Good At Not Crying
10. Now (Stars Are Lit)
11. Again
12. Mrs Calamari
13. People: What’s The Difference?
14. Visitors XT8B – Oak
15. Who Is A Fool
16. I Will Not Be Safe
17. Visitors YT15 – Krupp Steel Condition Pivot
18. Broken Like
19. Now (Pink Triangle, Blue Valley)

"To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1" has a suitably individual genesis. Alabaster DePlume was working for Ordinary Lifestyles, a charity in North Manchester UK which supports people with disabilities to live in their own homes and to live fulfilling lives. Specifically, he was working with the titular Cy and Lee. His job was to get the guys socializing and he did this by making up songs with them. They’d make up melodies together, humming tunes in the house when they needed something calm, or when they were haring round the city in a battered car. DePlume would record these impromptu sessions in his phone, then go to the studio and use the material as starting points for songs. He also ran music sessions for Cy, Lee and their friends. “People would focus on a central point, tuning in to one another. There are things we can’t put into words, which can be expressed with sound and music. These guys have fewer words than us, some of them have none. When we put some feelings into a music expression – that’s liberation.” It’s a method he uses in live shows wherever possible, placing himself and the musicians in the round. The aim is to maximize the creative benefits that a community of players and listeners can bring to the music. It’s a collectivist and humanist approach to making music that sits underneath everything he does. This is music made for a reason. “I like the idea that we’re not just doing frivolous decoration. We’re doing work for society. I like to listen for what needs to be said.”

Alabaster DePlume is a Manchester UK-born, London-based bandleader, composer, saxophonist, activist and orator. He’s a resident at the legendary London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre, a recording artist for the off-grid Scottish Hebridean island label Lost Map, and now the latest arrival into Chicago-based International Anthem’s growing family of progressive musical explorationists. Whilst much of his music contains vocals – often whispered imperatives – this is a collection of instrumentals. The music of To Cy & Lee… contains naturally elegant orchestration wrapped around something visceral and primordial. The music is filled with space, inspired, he says, by computer games and Japanese animation, particularly Joe Hisaishi’s soundtrack for Castle In The Sky. The record combines new compositions alongside bygone instrumentals and under-stated lullabies that feel like they’ve been picked from between the cracks of civilization. DePlume purposefully brings together players of different skill levels and different backgrounds so they have to interact differently, placing them in unusual situations in which to record. “I wanted to destroy the idea of correct so we were playing it different ways for fun. We had a very magical time playing the tunes.” This is activism expressed through gorgeous music that breaks down barriers by encouraging that most powerful emotion: connectedness.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A gorgeous collection of heady ambient ballads, flickering guitar and brilliantly crafted jazzy turns, all imbued with the fluid, understated vibe that Alabaster DePlume has become known for. Instrumentally rich, and a wonderfully crafted journey.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Visit Croatia
A2. What's Missing
A3. Song Of The Foundling
A4. Whisky Story Time
A5. Not Now, Jesus
A6. If You're Sure You Want To
B1. The Lucky Ones (with Danalogue)
B2. Why, Buzzardman, Why
B3. Not My Ask
B4. Turpentine
B5. I Hope