Endlessness

Released

Blurring the demarcations between outer and inner space is one of the themes running through Nala Sinepho’s atmospheric music. Her 2021 debut Space 1.8 featured a figure dangling off Saturn’s rings while her anticipated follow-up Endlessness features a supine female astronaut, her body composed of stars. Based in the UK, the Caribbean-Belgian musician toggles between harp and modular synth, the former an earthy, impressionistic string instrument that fellow harpist Alice Coltrane once likened to a sunset, while the latter conveys deep space and the precise lines of a sine wave. Both factor into the seamless flow of the album, which also features guests like saxophonist Nubya Garcia, Sons of Kemet drummer Natcyet Wakili, and strings courtesy of the Orchestrate collective. Some sounds conjure classic Mwandishi while others a Livity Sound b-side, while “Continuum 3” could pass for one of Coltrane’s sublime marriages between harp and orchestra. Apt for traveling to the deepest heights of a daydream.

Andy Beta