PLASMA

Vocal-centric jazz-rock combo from Switzerland. This is their fourth studio album release and second since singer Anna Hirsch replaced Stefanie Suhner after 2016's Chronosome release.

1. "Tritium" (7:47) muted piano strings being struck directly are joined by hand percussives and then two voices, female and male, making nasal and throat sounds with odd embouchures. Sounds a bit like North Sea Radio Orchestra. Then there is a shift in percussion instruments (with hi-hat) and vocals with Anna and Andreas taking on more primal vocal sounds and melody lines, woven within each other. In the fifth minute the music shifts beneath the vocal weave to become more 1980s PAT METHENY GROUP jazz like: piano, double bass, and drums taking much more prominent rolls. Anna and Andreas' voices begin to morph into sustained, floating melody lines for a couple of minutes before sliding back into more percussive sounds in the final minute and then finishing with a rousing jazzy weave for the finish. Very cool and unexpected! (13.5/15)

2. "Isblink (7:30) syncopated piano note is joined by Andreas before rest of band joins in, establishing a gently forward-rolling rhythm with like gentle melodies and more harmonic vocal structures. Very pretty and different than the other songs on the album. A gentler, interlude-kind of passage passes a minute or so at the end of the third minute before the vocal-less band reestablishes the baseline with muted piano and thickly warbling double bass low end up front and center. The only time on the album in which the three instrumentalists are left alone, with Anna and Andreas sitting back and observing. Simply mesmerizing! And when A & A rejoin it is so gently, as if to only embellish not to disturb or disrupt. Beautiful. At 6:30, however, the vocals move front and attention with an entirely new dual sound structure, pushing the other instruments to the back--which is how the song moves to its conclusion. My second favorite song on the album. (14.5/15)

3. "Sessapinae" (9:57) protracted jazz-rock Minimalism in the Paul Winter Consort domain with two voices substituting for instruments. Not enough change and dynamic tension or change in the first half. Great final three minutes: the vocals get very raw and primal. (17.5/20)

4. "Cocoro (6:54) opens with two vocalists playfully weaving a Bobby McFerrin-like sounds within the drums, bass, and piano lines. This is an exercise in control and rhythmic discipline--perhaps even polyphony. A shift at the end of the second minute sees the vocal weave falling into a more chord-like fullness with piano. It's pretty, kind of like a HUGO SELLES (PSYCHIC EQUALIZER) song. The interplay among the instrumentalists turns a little more staccato in the fifth minute before everyone comes back together for the harmonic convergence for the final two minutes. I'm also reminded of Burt Bacharach and (13.25/15)

5. "Altaelva (7:27) piano chords and two voices open as if unsynchronized bells ringing in a bell tower. At the one-minute mark they are joined by double bass and drums. Very cool! Then, at the end of the second minute, things slow down, bowed bass and Anna moving into lower registers as piano and Andreas continue their syncopated rhythm steadfastly before returning to the full panoply in the fourth minute. The piano begins to fill out its chordal spectrum as Andreas and Anna slowly move into different variations of their deliveries. Great left-hand piano chords before backing off into muted percussive chords in the sixth minute. And then such a great finish! My favorite song on the album; simply genius. (15/15)

Total Time ? 39:35

The music reminds me of Japanese Post Rock band TOE with a more Math Rock/MAGMA approach to the wordless vocals. Anna Hirsch's polished voice reminds me so much of that of singer MELODY FERRIS from Bay Area band Inner Ear Brigade. It still amazes me that I just listened to a vocally dominant album that contained absolutely no words!

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of progressive rock music though closer to a masterpiece in the chamber jazz rock or jazz-rock fusion sub-genres. Ikarus are one of my favorite discoveries of 2022; can't wait to dig back into their discography.