Faraway Plants is a local Chicago jazz trio that primarily plays spaces like the Whistler and Hungry Brain. Their music has mainly been improvisational, but their 2019 self-titled debut LP shows some signs of having been graced with a composer's pen, at least in part, ahead of the actual recording session that created it. They have a spacey, funky electronic sound anchored by Anthony Bruno’s soulful alto-sax, which rides the roll of drummer David Agee's judicious clatter like a comet joy-riding on one of Saturn's rings, while Gerald Bailey's trumpet playing provides a guiding narrative texture to the proceedings as they progress in variegated transmogrifications of sound and substance. There are hints of Sun Ra and Albert Ayler throughout these tracks, and some subtle polyrhythms to keep things fresh. If you feel like you could use a number with some ‘70s flair in your life, check out “Starship.” For more meditative motifs, look to the sudsy synth-propelled toss of “Sunsaturate” or the tubular slide of “Komorebi.” And if you need something that will help you pass the summer hours we still have left ot use this year in a blazingly good mood, try out the sweet and sunny beach companion “Islands” and the warm embrace of the sax lead “Birds,” the latter being replete with a choir of melodious songbird calling you to attention in its early waxing phases.
