Akusmi / Terra Incognita / Tonal Union

Pascal Bideau is the musician / composer behind Akusmi. On his third album, “Terra Incognita”, he uses the alto-saxophone to lead the listener through 7 soundscapes that blur and blend the traditional musics of Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and Eastern Europe. Describing the instrument as “half narrator, half explorer”, the decision to take us on an “adventure without borders” can only be viewed as a political statement in these tragically increasingly divisive days. “A Waking Dream” has keys, percussion and reeds all rippling, rustling together, synergistically, in a meditation, a calm, a call to prayer akin to the quieter moments of Alice Coltrane’s cosmic music. Marysia Osu’s hushed harp underlining this comparison, while Bideau’s highlife guitar and swinging brass fanfares bring a unique afro edge. “Anima” raises an organic trance dance from gamelan chimes. Its busy, repetitive patterns like lithe minimal techno loops. That sax switching between soaring solos and clipped,…