Sweet Tooth
Out Of Your Head, 2022
8/10
The Wabanaki bassist, composer and songwriter Mali Obomsawin brings us a compositional suite here, where stories passed down from her family are quite personal and welcome field recordings and also tells the tale of the Wabanaki people.
“Odana” opens the listen with soulful sax and Obomsawin’s soothing, expressive singing in the very powerful and intimate climate of cautious beauty that benefits much from atmospheric drums by Savannah Harris.
“Lineage” and “Wawasint8da” follow, where the former embraces some jazz nods amid the hypnotic guitar, while the latter uses marching band style drumming and sublime brass amid the poetic, pretty vocals.
On the back half, “Pedegwajois:” incorporates spoken word from Theophile Panadis and Obomsawin’s playfully plucked bass, and “Fractions” showcases Allison Burik’s agile clarinet, not to mention the rich saxophones and bare guitars. The final track, “Blood Quantum (Nəwewəčəskawikαpáwihtawα)”, is an exercise in wild, free jazz exploration that mesmerizes us for 11+ minutes.
A very diverse body of work that embraces blues, jazz, hymns, folk, and Native culture ideas, Obomsawin and company mix art and culture into a very enlightening, innovative display of indigenous sounds.
Travels well with: Curt Sydnor- Deep End Shallow; Michael And Peter Formanek- Dyads