Akusmi is the name of French-born, UK based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Pascal Bideau. He creates music that moulds together cosmic jazz, minimalist approaches and “Fourth World” influences. This term was new to me but it apparently means a mixture of primal and futuristic sounds – so right up my street. This culminates in an interesting mash up on his lead single “Fleeting Future” from his forthcoming album of the same name. It starts off as a pulse of saxophone that evolves into a jaunty march. Evoking some Philip Glass styled quick repetitions on a theme, the track then moves towards something more euphoric and modern jazzy. In comes rolling drums, bold brass and a symphonic side to the music that fans of Portico Quartet and Glass Museum would adore.
By straddling the orchestral and the modern jazz genres, Akusmi feels quite different to other musicians pioneering modern jazz but not different enough to feel alien. Interesting, Akusmi says that the album is about conveying changes in scale and size – big to small and back again – that drove the ideas behind the album. The way “Fleeting Future” does that as a musical piece really galvanises the listener. You can hear what starts out as a tiny motif escalate into a bombastic march of adrenaline and back again to peter out.
“Fleeting Future” as a single is out now and you can listen to it below. Following the same link enables you to pre-order the album too, which launches on the 24th of June.
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