The Comet Is Coming — the trio of saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, keyboard player Dan “Danalogue” Leavers and drummer Max “Betamax” Hallett — make music that puts a kind of retro-futuristic spin on spiritual jazz. Hutchings’ mantralike horn lines are swaddled by Leavers’ synth washes, which are sometimes New Agey and sometimes almost industrial-techno blasts of aggro cyber-funk, as Hallett lays down a bed of gentle pulse time or a huge dance beat, as the moment demands. Much of this album is meditative, but tracks like “Summon The Fire” and “Super Zodiac” have irresistible force, and on “Blood Of The Past,” they’re joined by poet Kate Tempest for a cold-eyed diatribe about the weight of history.

– Phil Freeman