N to The Power - More Power

N to The Power's acclaimed 2020 debut album AUTOGENESIS was created through three years of improvised sessions that were edited, refined, expanded, and transformed in the studio after the fact. MORE POWER was recorded by the ensemble in real time, giving the music a more fluid and reactive quality. If AUTOGENESIS was a labyrinth of interlocking musical puzzles, MORE POWER celebrates the value of in- the-moment collaboration and flow.

In the AUTOGENESIS liner notes, cultural critic Mark Dery described the band’s music as “hypnotic, interlocked rhythms and melodies that, depending on where your consciousness wanders, shift between foreground and background, the aural equivalent of Escher’s optical illusions.” Such illusions are still prevalent, along with multi-time-signatured complex polyrhythms and unusual combinations of instruments. Tony Jarvis’ soulful bass clarinet is once again in a leading role, and co-band leader Blake Leyh returns with electric cello on all eight tracks. New on this outing is a third primary voice: London-based Vincent Curson Smith on trumpet, adding a soaring elegiac feel at times, as well as funky, hocketed melodies and riffs. Multi-instrumentalist Bruno Coon has deep chops on Cuban bata drums, every kind of plucked string, and plays bass in a California reggae band; he is found here in many incarnations — from angular electric guitar motifs to funky basslines to melodies played on an armadillo-shell-backed charango. Yusuke Yamamoto contributes his signature vibraphone and marimba on most tracks, and propulsive conga rhythms on others.