Levitation Orchestra share new single ‘Child Part: IV’ and announce new album Illusions & Realities
Today, London's foremost powerhouse collective, Levitation Orchestra, share a new single titled "Child Part: IV". The new song follows their signing to London tastemaker label and analogue specialists, Gearbox Records (Binker & Moses, Theon Cross, Abdullah Ibrahim, Graham Costello etc.), and comes ahead taken of their highly anticipated sophomore album “Illusions & Realities" - out 29th October 2021.
Bringing together a vast array of inspirations ranging across jazz, classical, electronica, soul, spoken word, and no-holds-barred free improvisation, Levitation Orchestra presents their most adventurous record to date with “Illusions & Realities”. With trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom (Cykada, Gary Bartz) as musical director, the collective comprises some of London's most promising young musicians, who together play in or with the likes of Alabaster de Plume, Shunaji, Nihilism, PÆN, and Nardedey.
"Child Part: IV" marks the final chapter in a suite of compositions around childhood, lineage, and loss, and is at once tense, uplifting, ruminative, hypnotic and energetic. Wistful sax lines weave there way around mesmerising harp, driving basslines, and expansive percussion. The vocals carry an almost cosmic effervescence that pushes the track upward into an explosive and elevated state where the instrumentation culminates in an epiphanic orchestral joining of concepts and moods.
Speaking on the single, saxophonist James Akers says: "We were wrestling with illusions and realities around our perceptions of ourselves and how we could be just a grain of sand in a desert or a single thread in the ever-growing tapestry of the universe. But perhaps, through ancestry and descendance we could be linked with a greater cycle of being. How connected are we to those who came before and who will come after? Part IV, the culmination of the suite, brings forward motifs of bright, new life, and sorrow and loss. Two parts of the cycle that are inextricably interwoven."
The track was premiered last week via Music Is My Sanctuary, who described the collective as "a large, ever-changing ensemble, abundant in energy & focus." You can check out the premiere HERE
Hear / Share "Child Part: IV" HERE
"Many In Body, One In Mind" - so reads the final track title from Levitation Orchestra's new album, a title that embodies both the album and the prime philosophy behind everything they do. As a true collective, each member is vital, contributing equally to the whole in terms of playing and writing. Compositions formed out of group discussions, which delved into childhood, stoicism, astrophysical theories, and neurological delusions, all interweaving and circling the point where truth and reality enter the realm of illusion.
Since releasing their debut LP “Inexpressible Infinity” in late-2019, Levitation Orchestra have lit-up their home city, earning a cult-fanbase which has seen them sell-out Church Of Sound, as well as selling out all 500 copies of their vinyl release, and earning plaudits from the likes of NTS, Bandcamp, WWFM, Jazz FM and more. They also self-released a similarly lauded standalone single entitled “Wave Potentially” at the end of 2020 with all proceeds going to Tomorrow’s Warriors and Owó.
“Illusions And Realities” is a performance which captures live their journey in the creation of their second album. It witnesses the orchestra tying together the multiplicities of musical and social experiences into a suite of sumptuous sound, wild, and free. Speaking on the album in the liner notes, Axel says:
“Each composition reflects in detail on one of the subjects of our discussions. We formed splinter groups to translate our discoveries into sound and bring to life that which had both astounded and amused us. Over a series of workshops, we transformed these cells into orchestral pieces, the music never ceasing to mutate. These recordings you hold are merely one fixed point in our creative process. Should we have spent another moment on this music, it would have taken another form. It is earnest and honest, sincerely channelled through the spirits of its creators.”
The result is an entirely multifarious composition of progressive jazz music, which channels the energy of Sun Ra's Arkestra, the ambience of Alice Coltrane, and the harmonic subtleties of Debussy, whilst ultimately producing something tantalisingly undefinable. From the tumultuous closing epic through to the mediative “Between Shadows” and the avant-garde, prog-inflected “Delusion”, there are moments of mind-bending experimentation and sinuous electronics, incendiary hip-hop and impassioned spoken word, groove-heavy jazz-riffing, intricate classical passages and much more.
The indelible underground jazz scene in London has always been collaborative in nature and continues to evolve and reshape itself in the eyes of those who are a part of it. As this next wave of young trailblazers come to the fore, they show the power and meaningfulness of this collaboration, by creating something which touches on important social, spiritual, and personal topics, whilst displaying an inimitable passion to explore and push the boundaries of jazz, both musically and conceptually, to create something entirely unique.
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“Illusions & Realities” is out 29th October via Gearbox Records
Available on Gatefold 2xLP / Gatefold 1xCD and digitally + ltd. Japanese Edition vinyl & CD.
Pre-order HERE
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Levitation Orchestra also aim to play further live dates this year with performances set to take place at the following festivals:
19th – 22nd August - We Out Here Festival
10th – 16th October - Boiler Room Festival
Levitation Orchestra
Illusions & Realities
Tracklisting:
1. Life Is Suffering / Send and Receive Love Only
2. Listen To Her
3. Spiral (Die, Die, Die)
4. Delusion
5. Child: Part I
6. Child: Part II
7. Child: Part III
8. Child: Part IV
9. Between Shadows
10. Many In Body, One In Mind
Members:
Axel Kaner-Lidstrom - Trumpet
Lluis Domenech Plana - Flute
James Akers - Tenor Saxophone
Ayodeji Ijishakin - Tenor Saxophone
Saskia Horton - Violin
Beatriz Rola - Violin
Emma Barnaby - Cello
Maria Osuchowska - Harp
Paris Charles - Guitar
Hamish Nockles-Moore - Double Bass
Harry Ling - Drums
Plumm - Vocals
Dilara Aydin-Corbett - Vocals
Roella Oloro - Keys
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