You’ll never find Nala Sinephro shying away from extensive concepts. Having debuted to critical acclaim in 2021 with Space 1.8, the composer and multi-instrumentalist widens the scope of her already expansive work with the new release Endlessness. Inspired by existence itself, Endlessness is a work of vast cosmic cycles, a suite in which the electric and the acoustic roll together in symphonic jazz music of heroic proportions.
Grand as it is, though, Endlessness is far from forbidding. Quite the opposite: it’s inviting, and the nigh-incomprehensibility of its subject matter is emerging in elements that build organically rather than overwhelm. Along with a stellar ensemble of players, Sinephro creates energy and matter note by note from a languid beginning through to an explosive end: musical baryogenesis, a gradual but unstoppable filling of space with sonic substance.
Not that it’s anything so linear as moving from less to more. Nala Sinephro constantly plays with ebbs and flows within and between tracks. Hers are instruments with a broad range of synthesizers and harps that she can make twinkle in spacious arpeggio or shimmer with heartstopping intensity. Recurring strings directed by Sinephro and Robert Ames (who co-directs the London Symphony Orchestra) add a particular fluidity to each movement across and beyond which Sinephro’s other collaborators float, dance, and soar, depending on their mood.
Endlessness opens with Sinephro’s synths purring and pulsing, joined soon by James Mollison (Ezra Collective) on nimble sax and Morgan Simpson (black midi) adding subtle, vital drums. Midway through this first track, strings raise the trio’s vibrations higher, nearing a frenzy and then dissipating into the ether. The second track picks up from this cooler attitude, made even more lyrical by a different set of instrumentalists: Lyle Barton with gently fervent piano work, a smooth brass section consisting of Nubya Garcia on sax and Sheila Maurice-Grey (Kokoroko) on flugelhorn, Natcyet Wakili (Sons of Kemet) with soothing drums unpredictable enough to intrigue, and Dwayne Kilvington (Onipa) holding down a low end on synth bass.
Most of the rest of Endlessness engages smaller subsets of this impressive group. Shorter, keyboard-heavy cuts make Sinephro and Barton foundational players, their increasingly exciting ostinati and the recurring strings joined by the graceful improvisations of various horns and drums. After a satisfying melodic descent at the end of “Continuum 7”, “Continuum 8” brings in a more extensive set of the featured players: Maurice-Grey on trumpet, Barton on synths, Kilvington on synth bass, and Wakili on drums all join Sinephro and orchestra for the album’s jazziest cut, a slow-burning rebirth on which Wakili’s rhythms are especially captivating. For the final two tracks, Sinephro leads the charge to a cinematic finale, plugged in and powered up until a final swell and release that lands in the earthly beauty of a slightly distorted piano.
It feels appropriate that Endlessness arrives just as summer comes to a close. The complexities of this riveting LP are laced with autumnal breezes, beautiful gradients, and careful explorations in exceptional detail that sometimes hit a simmer but never sweat. Nala Sinephro’s work encompasses such a range of instruments and moods that even as it hits dizzying heights, it never feels uncomfortably extreme. She is an artist, and Endlessness continues to show just how sophisticated her palette is while never losing touch with pure feeling. This is music that is good for the ear, the mind, the heart, and the very future of the philosophical orientations of jazz.