Andy Bell (him out of Ride, and Oasis of course) has a new album out with Essex harp and synth duo Masal – Common Primitives is out now on Sonic Cathedral.
The three of them first got together when Masal (Özlem Şimşek and Alastair Johnson) supported Andy at a gig in Chelmsford in early 2022. Their first album together, Tidal Love Numbers, came out in 2023 and was just 4 long, nearly ambient tracks. This one has 7 tracks which are shorter but a lot more layered, and the press release says it goes from kosmische to astral jazz via Turkish folk tunes.
Andy's big influence this time was Pharoah Sanders' 1977 album Pharoah, which is why there are a lot more guitar loops on it. He says the Tisziji Muñoz guitar part on Harvest Time "has had me in a vice-like grip for the last three years" and that it comes through here "via the Vini Reilly filter". Alastair says they work from free jams, then go back and add, edit and cut, and "go where the vibe takes you".
The opening track, After Kâtibim, has Özlem singing as well as playing harp. She heard a vocal melody over Andy's riffs and realised it was an old Turkish folk song, Kâtibim (it means "my clerk"), which she sang as a child growing up in Istanbul. The Morning Of The Trip has already been on Lauren Laverne's Beauty Spot on 6 Music, and the album closes with Rudi's Dream – The Third Bardo, a krautrock finish inspired by the cat that lives at their studio.
The other tracks are I Swear We Are Infinite, Yuzuki Fighting Spirit, Soap And Water and Tower Of Babylon (named after a Ted Chiang story).
It was produced by Alastair and mastered by Andy's Ride bandmate Mark Gardener at his OX4 Sound studio. They launched it with 2 shows at SJQ in Dalston, where they played a cover of Faust's Jennifer.
Harp and Ride guitar sounds like an odd mix on paper, but there's something really satisfying about the balance between energy and control here. It all feels lively and spontaneous – you can tell it started life as jams – but it never loses sight of its structure either.
It's out on CD, digital and 3 double vinyl versions – transparent turquoise and violet, a starburst one for indie shops only and a gold splatter one only on Bandcamp – and the double vinyl includes Tidal Love Numbers, which is the first time that's been out on vinyl.
Buy it here: https://linktr.ee/commonprimitives
Watch the visualiser for The Morning Of The Trip: https://youtu.be/Vzs4eQkSzTA