Detriot instrumentalist and instigators Will Sessions have proven their skill and tenacity over the past decade after debuting as the backing band for an Elzhi-fronted rendition of Illmatic. Something which they rewired to sound like the old record that inspired the original. Their latest release, Electromagnetic Reality, is calibrated to vibrate at a different frequency though. The album doesn't preoccupy itself with new wardrobes to dress up old moves, instead sees the band going through a transmogrification of enlightened, retro-curious futurism. Drifting through the fibers of a shag rug nailed tight over a decommissioned dance hall floor- the band drop, splash, and drizzle their way through a desalination process that filters out all the baggage of the last 50 years of funk, allowing their sound to condense into something separate and timeless. Part of the freshness of the ensemble's approach this time around is their crocheting together of like threads in a way that feels unselfconscious of any precedence or potential resistance- klieg light bathed soul instrumentals swirl under the clap of stormy jazz formations churned by whisking currents of perfumed and funky slipstreams. The chop of its soothing tides seems to anticipate hip-hop's cut-and-scratch approach to production but without having to rely on the listener's familiarity with such techniques to make sense of its circadian clip. The result is robust and strappingly rugged without yielding the ingrained intimacy of its tender intentions. Through its candid alliance of form and steady voltage, Electromagnetic Reality snatches the blinding heat of stage lights from the air and permits them to dance on its fingertips without singeing its nails and skin, a ballet of brilliant, commanding motion comfortably cooled and iced by a haze of aerosolized, coca-cola-sweet grooves and star-nebula resonating synths that ensnare and encircle the aloof allure of the distant cosmos, shrinking it down to the inviting dimensions of a wading pool sized champagne chiller. Pop the cork and let that electric gold flow!
