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