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Space 1.8

Nala Sinephro's debut album Space 1.8 could have been among my favourite records of 2021, if it weren't for its initial issue being vinyl-only. Having heard a few tracks from it on-line, it seemed to me like music that could easily sound a little better on CD (and it would be cheaper too). So I waited - and my patience was rewarded when a re-issue early this year brought forth CD copies as well as more vinyl ones. In that way it has become one of my favourite records of 2022. I've listened to it many times and feel very far from exhausting its delights.

At Discogs, the album has been categorised as "Contemporary Jazz, Ambient" which seems about right. There are saxophones and double basses and drums involved, and a few tracks are unquestionably jazzy - but there are also other textures too, courtesy of Sinephro's mastery of two highly unalike instruments: the harp and the modular synthesizer, which both excel at laying on soothing ambience. All eight tracks are instrumentals composed by Sinephro, and are simply named 'Space 1' to 'Space 8'. On the former, and on 'Space 7', she provides all of the music herself, whereas on 'Space 2', she is part of a sextet.

On other "Spaces" there is a guest, or two, or three. Those helping out include saxophonist Nubya Garcia and guitarist Shirley Tetteh. The prevailing mood is of clarity & serenity, but other feelings intrude too, such as in the anxious-sounding 'Space 6'. At the last, though, calm prevails, in the 20-minute expanse of 'Space 8', in which the listener is kept blissfully afloat on soft pillows of comfortable sound.

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