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Back in 2021, one of my essential albums was Drag City’s Mind Maintenance, a duo instrumental album featuring Joshua Abrams’ guimbri and the mbira playing of Chad Taylor. Appropriately titled and timed for a fraught period (peak of COVID, etc.), the album was a tonic, coming when the world’s population needed soothing. Chad Taylor now lines up as one-third of Onilu (a Yoruba word meaning simply ‘drummer’), an all-percussion instrumental band, whose modus operandi, it seems, is to get a foot tapping. Armed with a host of percussive instruments, Chad, Kevin Diehl (Sonic Liberation Front) and Joe Chambers (M’Boom, etc.) are given not only centre stage but the entire stage to mesmerise us with their instrumental and composition skills.
For any of us wondering if percussion alone is enough to hold the attention, this set wastes no time in settling the listener (see Jim White and Chris Corsano, among others, for further reassurance). Invocation starts steadily, with a nifty rhythm and touches of hand drums, before a second beat settles in. It immediately screams confidence, with the players happy to allow the music to unfold at its own pace. But it is also subtly very technical and performed with such assurance that the whole concept quickly gets exciting.
On Same Shame, the idiophone (in this case, something resembling a xylophone or marimba) forms the core melody, with a darker percussive line behind it. This is a more mysterious piece, with plenty of space and sparse and pensive playing. Weirder is the excellent (and brilliantly titled) Estuary Stew, which also uses some kind of idiophone, along with shakers (bringing a sense of natural unease, like a rattlesnake) and a bizarre squelchy sounding instrument unlike anything I have heard before. The overall mood is odd and furtive, with a hint of magical realism, but the music is just beautiful and so intelligently played it will have your eyes closed and entranced in no time.
Trickier to pin down is A Meta Onilu, the longest song here at over seven minutes and one that incorporates many melodies into its main structure. Rather than the dreamlike state some of the music here may induce, this one will have you listening closely and picking out each stand until the musical links become clear. It is a strong demonstration of the skill each of these players possesses, with very technical and challenging music seeming effortless. But this doesn’t feel like an academic album; it feels like three artists playing the music they love and relishing in the unusual position of being the main characters. Within the meticulous nature of the sound is a paradoxically careful abandon, and the love of the playing and bouncing off of one another shines through brightly. What a wonderfully uplifting, fresh and enjoyable recording this is. I’ve not come across anything quite like it.
Onilu (7th February 2025) via Eremite
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