Djinn - Transmission - New Ltd Coloured LP
Format: New Ltd Orange/Red LP Label: Rocket Cat. No: Launch232 Barcode: 5056321640369 Released: 02/04/2021
Orange/Red swirl vinyl limited to 400 copies
Not unlike the supernatural deities from which they take their name, Djinn - the Swedish collective featuring members of Hills and Goat in their ranks - have proven themselves a potent and mysterious force. Their first release for Rocket Recordings was a portrait of open-minded explorers foraying into the realms of free and cosmic jazz, but never overly reverential or in thrall to their own influences.
Following the ‘Avant De Servir’ tape which was released on Swedish label Zeon Light last year, Transmission is a still more intrepid step into new terrain for Djinn - the mantric rhythms are hypnotic here, the freeform extrapolations hit new peaks of vivid abandon, and the moments of calm are blissfully meditative. Yet their sound palette extends into refreshing collisions of intent and metaphysical intensity that echo across the psychic landscapes of Sunburned Hand Of The Man-style freak-folk, as well as the polylingual fusion of jazz, European and Asian music that Don Cherry essayed on 1969’s Eternal Rhythm and 1973’s Organic Music Society.
Amidst these intoxicating and richly eclectic soundworlds, the band are just as comfortable invoking Popol Vuh (as on the mellotronabetted title track) Art Ensemble Of Chicago and the lineage of Swedish underground music that found epiphanies in the radical folk-psych of Arbete Och Fritid whilst also sounding - crucially - like no-one but themselves.
For all the far-reaching explorations of altered states by which Djinn set out their stall, this collection of mystical headspaces - in all its fearless and feral glory - is proof positive that the band’s journey has only just begun. This transmission is set to ring out across dimensions unknown.
The album, which is limited to 400 copies on colour vinyl comes with a download code that also contains as a bonus their 2020 ‘Avant De Servir EP’ that was originally released on cassette via Swedish label Zeon Light.