Rising Stars: Irreversible Entanglements
This powerful collective creates galvanizing experimental free jazz to heal the world through radical lyricism and profound improvisations
Art as collaboration. Collaboration as liberation. Liberation through expression. Expression that unifies. Unity manifested as organic improvisations expunging deep-seeded emotions. Parading and calling to the masses through the explosive sounds of spiritual jazz. This is the credence of the incredible, raw, and innovative American free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements.
Self-described as a “free jazz quintet with an experimental punk mentality”, the music of Irreversible Entanglements is just as wildly exciting as it is deeply moving. The collective blends artforms into a mirage of expressionistic motions which communicate and release messages that reflect on historical traumas and contemporary struggles. While the technical abilities of each member alone are phenomenal, what sets them apart from other such groups is the unique soulful spirit that their performances clearly originate from. The level to which they are tuned-into each other, and their own human souls, permeates through every piece that they perform, creating bonds between artists and audiences of a most primal and spiritual kind.
Irreversible Entanglements first came into existence through a most organic means, as the artists met through their common performances at Brooklyn’s “Musicians Against Police Brutality” day in April of 2015. The event, a benefit for Akai Gurley who was killed by police in November 2015, assembled a wide line-up of artists that were unified in their talent to poignantly communicate through their respective forms. Upon meeting at the benefit, these individuals began working collaboratively to create something larger than themselves. There’s vocalist Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother), whose spoken word poetry is a centrepiece of the musical messaging, drummer Tcheser Holmes, who excels at creating wide dynamic ranges of intensity, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, who sounds like a conduit through which years of historical voices speak through, bassist Luke Stewart, providing the solid ground upon listeners are held in place, and saxophonist Keir Neuringer, a warm voice of pure and comforting soul.
The fruit of their very first collaborative session, months after their initial meeting, is an exquisite amalgamation of their own unique backgrounds and takes the form of the track “Projects”, the closer to their debut album. “Projects” showcases the seeds of what would continue to evolve into the signatory elements of Irreversible Entanglement’s music. There is a deep intertwining of raw human improvisation that twists and grows with Camae’s radical texts to paint a holistic picture with multiple layers. Layers that, when heard atop each other, are liberating, energizing, and inspiring of new thinking and a drive to action from all that hear the overwhelming emotions becoming expunged.
On speaking about their initial meeting and the music that has come from it, Neuringer said “We are committed to the moment, improvisations and to the implicit message of free jazz and fire music, and the explicit context of Camae’s text, which began at that event and permeates what we do.” (ALICE CPH) Through the creation of their art, the group makes it clear that their mission is to create communal healing through the release of Black trauma and to achieve a musical deliverance of messages about survival, power, love, protest, and social commitment. It’s a concentration bolstered just as much by the genre of free jazz as by their common background in punk and DIY scenes that pushes them into territory which grows messily and brashly. Tracks such as “Soundness” are beautiful in how the song’s energies swirl and don’t stray away from areas of harshness.
Truly, Irreversible Entanglements is a roaring voice unlike any other group. The demands attention and exceedingly reward it through intricate experiences of moving and through provoking candor. In a conversation with Paste Magazine, Camae talks about her writing and the broader objective of which the group is trying to achieve as she talks about the impacts that art can have on community. “How do I build this, not just for myself but for this community of musicians that are coming up with me?” she asks. They seek to not only deliver messages through their music, but to simultaneously have it fuel a larger fire that sets the stage for more artists to tap into similar energies and further the momentum necessary for broader social change. Irreversible Entanglements is beyond just “making music” or “making poetry”, it’s a complex intermingling of spiritual energies that manifests in a myriad of forms, firmly resisting any rigidity or label. Instead, they are simply understood within the hearts and souls, the energy receivers, of all who experience this sensory serendipity.