The Irreversible Entanglements collective changes its skin again. The militant and abrasive free jazz of the first works gives way in “Future Present Past” to a more mobile and porous sound, crossed by Latin inflections, elastic rhythms and a less suffocating tension than in the past. Already from the title and mantra of “Juntos vencemos” emerges a call to the community, to the possibility of resisting through the common movement rather than through denunciation alone. If the previous albums seemed above all to talk about rubble, conflict and urban alienation, here a different energy emerges, at times almost luminous, which attempts to convert anger into shared momentum. Even musically, the band lightens the continuous pressure that characterized their past works, allowing themselves more fluid structures and unexpected breathing spaces.
The lead single, “Don't Lose Your Head,” revolves around MOTHERBOARD's magnetic presence. His voice, charismatic and recognisable, runs through much of the album and becomes one of its key elements. It is probably the song most explicitly conceived to drive the project: short, immediate, supported by a linear structure and a refrain that is easily imprinted in the memory. “Panamanian Fight Song” is more convincing. In fact, the simplicity of the system is accompanied by that internal tension which represents one of the best features of the Irreversible Entanglements. The initial spoken word, collected and held back, progressively opens towards Afrobeat cadences, without ever losing momentum. “Hold On” instead appears completely atypical. The song interrupts the flow of the album with a suspended and almost ritual atmosphere. The voices take on a plaintive tone, close to a processional chant, while the instruments remain in the background, limiting themselves to evoking shadows and resonances.
At the center of every transformation remains the word of Moor Mother. His presence continues to be the cornerstone of the Irreversible Entanglements universe. Although the group broadens its sonic vocabulary and lightens the pressure of the militant free jazz of its early days, it is still his voice that gives direction and coherence to the entire work. In “Vibrate Higher” the verses move within a continuously transforming sound fabric. The saxophone expands in sinuous lines, while the drums proceed free and unpredictable, feeding a constant tension. “Keep Going” instead chooses a more nervous dynamic. The piece progresses through gaps, accelerations and sudden changes of direction. It is one of the moments in which the collective's ability to transform instability into movement and fragmentation into a surprising form of cohesion emerges most clearly.
In the final part of the album the band returns to allowing itself to be dragged towards broader and more turbulent improvisations. “The Spirit Moves” opens with the hypnotic sound of an idiophone that introduces an almost spiritual and oriental dimension, before the piece is progressively crossed by increasingly dissonant and fragmented wind instruments. The final “We Overcome” finally brings the group back towards a more physical and rhythmic dimension. Under the agitated surface of the piece, unexpected bossa nova inflections emerge, immediately deformed and dragged into a convulsive and irregular structure. It is probably here that the album reveals its transitional nature most clearly: a work interested in expanding the vocabulary of Irreversible Entanglements by opening it to new rhythmic and cultural influences, but still slightly immature in the way in which it tries to bring together all the directions it tries to explore.
03/06/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
