This new collection from singer, songwriter, pianist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Eckroth, her first release on Rainy Days Records, presents a fascinating sonic journey in the company of an outstanding band.

The arresting album opener ‘Dracaena’ is a perfect vehicle for McCaslin’s very personal improvisatory style, with Eckroth supplying gorgeously voiced, stacked up chordal harmonies. Set up by Felder’s ghostly guitar and Euman’s subtle kit work, the Eckroth-Lefebvre original ‘Dried Up Roots’, the first of two tracks featuring vocals, offers a marked contrast to the multi-layered synth textures and improvisatory approach of the album’s instrumentals. Eckroth’s mournful left-hand octaves in the piano underpin lyrics which reflect the existential crisis which the pandemic posed for many artists (“My roots dried up and I began to lose my way”).

In the context of the album as a whole, ‘Black Eyed Susan’ acts almost as a still point of contemplation, with Eckroth’s multiple synth lines (on Prophet 6, Juno 106 and Roland SE02) and wordless vocal seamlessly combining with White’s modular synth and Lefebvre’s electric bass, while McCaslin soars over the top, in a manner reminiscent of Wayne Shorter and Weather Report. ‘Oil’ powerfully brings the album full circle, with another towering McCaslin solo.