Paradise Cinema: returning, dream

Was this made in a studio or beamed in from a jungle on some faraway planet? Perhaps a little of both—Jack Wyllie's saxophone does often find some alien- sounding contexts, as often shown by the futuristic electro-jazz-ambient sound sculpting of Portico Quartet or the wilder psychedelic fusion of Szun Waves. When it comes to Paradise Cinema, the sound is closer to the ground in more ways than one—its self-titled debut (Gondwana, 2020) came from some time soaking in the sounds of Senegal and playing with a pair of percussionists. It made a sort of murky trance stew, dabbling in thoughts of alternate lives and creating the quasi-eerie feeling of a space between this world and others that only might have existed.

returning, dream is a somewhat brighter affair, but never loses the feeling of crossing vast distances (and not just because the players recorded on three different continents). The atmosphere remains all-enveloping and mysterious. Wyllie is still musing on quantum theory and spinning abstract groove pieces based around visions and memories. Dakar percussionists Khadim Mbaye and Tons Sambe return from the previous recording, spinning African mbalax rhythms in shifting patterns with and against each other, also joined by Szun Waves colleague Laurence Pike on drums. Even when the three all overlap, though, the rhythm never actually gets heavy or overwhelming. They subtly weave together like strands on a loom instead of pounding away too hard or fast.

The production likewise always keeps drifting: the tones are spiced up with shots of synth or guitar, while any element can fade in or out as elusively as a missed thought. Even if the bewitching bed of percussion is already enough to hypnotize, Wyllie's floating sax and flute finish the job. Like the beats, he never settles into a pattern steady enough to tap along with. He always seems a hair out of phase, just a tiny bit ahead or behind the actual count, so that the feel is more of flying and swirling—at least until the finale actually finds a propulsive gear and climbs to a cosmic finish. Where the first Paradise Cinema set out a fascinating identity, this followup puts it into fresh new clothes like one of those alternate might-have-beens, steadily surprising and just as thrilling.