Free-form avant garde music has always fascinated me and when it’s done as well as Liminal Phase manage on their debut, LP, it excites me to no end. Liminal Phase are a small collective who make up something of a small behind-the-scenes supergroup. Individual members play out with Heiruspecs, Dessa, and Cloud Cult, among others. Yet their experience in those bands is only a small indicator of what’s going on here.
The ambient jazz influence is brought to the forefront as the band essentially flips a record switch and just starts playing with the absolute minimum of pre-determined material going into recording LP. Often that’s a recipe for disaster, but, almost miraculously, Liminal Phase delivers some of the most engaging material I’ve heard all year. Everything ebbs and flows so naturally that it’s hard to believe the majority of this is free-form. A left-field contender for album of the year.