Intra-I

As demonstrated on 2019's Fyah, Theon Cross is refining the tuba's role in modern music. And it's not only there; his membership in Sons of Kemet and his collaborative roles with Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd, Ezra Collective, Makaya McCraven, and others underscore the impression. Cross actively developed his instrument to produce sub-sonics, bass, mids, and tops, to erect sound-worlds that envelop jazz, improv, funk, dubstep, grime, hip-hop, soca, dub, and sound system culture. In Cross' music, rhythm and bass dictate melody rather than accompany it. The tuba is not only central, it is foundational.
Intra-I (meaning "within self") offers ten sonically divergent, bass-rich tunes. Cross handles the lion's share of sounds, but is assisted by drummer/programmer Emre Ramazanoglu on most cuts as well as a handful of rappers. On the brief "Intro," rapper Remi Graves delivers a manifesto as Cross lays out low-end drones atop brooding electronic ambience. "Here We Go Again" is a jazzy, cinematic instrumental that registers skittering organic and programmed beats by Ramazanoglu while Cross adds spidery high-register funk and harmonic fills resembling a guitar using a wah-wah pedal. Zimbabwean rapper Shumba Maasai offers a militant lyric of self-determination on "Roots." "The Spiral" is not only the set's single, it offers a jazzy, deep blue, somewhat ominous melody line. It enters solo, but is multiplied and syncopated as it changes shape into something darker; brittle beats frame Afronaut Zu's and Ahnansé's vocal acrobatics. Instrumental "Trust the Journey" stitches field recordings together, enveloping Ramazanoglu's hand drumming, staggered synthetic beats, and Cross' modal melody, as Afrobeat and soca grooves smokily emerge to reflect an investigatory curiosity and existential dread as the music crawls forward. "40tude" is another instrumental that bubbles and cooks along soca and drum'n'bass grooves as Cross weaves in jagged, African- and Caribbean-inspired harmonic lines. "Watching Over (Bless Up Dad)" is a requiem for Cross's father, who passed away while Intra-I was being recorded. A slow, folk melody is articulated by a lone tuba before it's doubled. The tone shifts impressionistically to underscore the melody's somber intent. "Forward Progression II" weds deep, dread King Tubby-inspired dub as Cross' trombone recalls the melodic invention of late Jamaican trombonist Rico Rodriguez (Skatalites). Consensus offers a punky spitfire delivery in the crunchy grime groover "Play to Win," as Cross dialogues with the rhythm section and rapper amid video game sonics, fractured drum samples, and zigzagging synths and samplers. Closer "Universal Alignment" is a duet between Cross and globally renowned tuba and electronics master Oren Marshall. While they deliver the lyric line together, they diverge to circle, counter, and refract one another with layered intensity as harmony and rhythm blur, swirl, and eventually come together in a resonant yet nearly ecstatic conclusion.
Whereas Fyah relied on jazz and funk as twin lines of harmonic and rhythmic inquiry, Intra-I multiplies their import by strategically locating them inside a far deeper, wider mix to create an original music that looks squarely at the future. ~ Thom Jurek