IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS - Future Present Past

The collective Irreversible Entanglements sheds its skin once again. The militant, abrasive free jazz of their early work gives way, on "Future Present Past", to a more mobile and porous sound, shot through with Latin inflections, elastic rhythms and a tension that feels less suffocating than in the past. From the title alone, and from the mantra of "Juntos vencemos", a call to collectivity emerges: the possibility of resisting through shared movement rather than denunciation alone. Where previous albums seemed to narrate mostly rubble, conflict and urban alienation, here a different energy surfaces, at times almost luminous, attempting to convert rage into shared momentum. Musically too, the band eases off the constant pressure that defined their past work, allowing themselves more fluid structures and unexpected room to breathe.

The lead single, "Don't Lose Your Head", revolves around the magnetic presence of MOTHERBOARD. Their charismatic, instantly recognisable voice runs through much of the record and becomes one of its load-bearing elements. It's probably the track most explicitly conceived to drive the project forward: short, immediate, carried by a linear structure and a chorus that lodges itself easily in memory. "Panamanian Fight Song" proves more convincing. Alongside its straightforward framework it carries that internal tension that remains one of Irreversible Entanglements' best qualities. The opening spoken word, restrained and held back, gradually opens out into afrobeat cadences without ever losing momentum. "Hold On", by contrast, appears wholly atypical. The track interrupts the record's flow with a suspended, almost ritualistic atmosphere. The voices take on a plaintive tone, close to a processional chant, while the instruments stay in the background, merely evoking shadows and resonances.

At the heart of every transformation remains the word of Moor Mother. Her presence continues to be the backbone of the Irreversible Entanglements universe. However much the group broadens its sonic vocabulary and eases the pressure of their early militant free jazz, it is still her voice that gives the whole work direction and coherence. On "Vibrate Higher" the verses move within a sound fabric in constant transformation. The saxophone unfurls in sinuous lines, while the drums proceed free and unpredictable, fuelling a constant tension. "Keep Going" instead opts for a more nervous dynamic: it advances through jolts, accelerations and sudden changes of direction. It's one of the moments where the collective's ability to turn instability into movement, and fragmentation into a surprising form of cohesion, comes through most clearly.

In the final part of the album, the band once again lets itself be pulled toward broader, more turbulent improvisation. "The Spirit Moves" opens with the hypnotic sound of an idiophone, introducing an almost spiritual, Eastern-tinged dimension, before the track is gradually overtaken by increasingly dissonant and fragmented horns. The closing "We Overcome" finally brings the group back to a more physical, rhythmic dimension. Beneath the track's restless surface, unexpected bossa nova inflections emerge, immediately warped and dragged into a convulsive, irregular structure. This is probably where the album most clearly reveals its transitional nature: a work intent on expanding Irreversible Entanglements' vocabulary by opening it up to new rhythmic and cultural influences, yet still slightly unripe in the way it tries to make all the directions it explores coexist.

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03/06/2026