Opening up infinity with ‘Interstellar Space’ and ‘Duo Exchange’, with Rashied Ali in collusion with – respectively – John Coltrane and Frank Lowe and their progressive descent into territories more or less tangential to jazz and improvisation, which could lead to extreme forms of metal and rock – Dead Neandertals, for example – it would be perfectly expected to think of this London duo as a derivative of that same broad ‘lineage’. Sopros always bring that dragging idea, don’t they? But despite the baritone saxophone + drums pairing, there are no major points of contact here with anything remotely jazzy, but rather a rock propulsion, a very punk minimalist delivery and a spatial notion inherited from dub that historically harks back to the post-punk experiments of the turn of the 70s to the 80s and, thinking of now, to the revitalisation of the term by the pandilla that gathers around the Windmill Brixton space – black midi or Shame. In practical terms, the guttural roar and riffing potential of Joe Henwood’s baritone is swallowed up in a torrent of effects – distortions, echoes, pitch modulation, and so on – capable of turning it into something else on demand, but also recognising the melodic-impacting value of the wind is thrown into the mimetic precision of Tash Keary’s drums. ‘WeirdOs’, last year’s debut album, is a portent of infectious harmonies, hypnotic repetitions, spasmodic swerves and expansive moments that remind us that this band was born out of long jams but has already crossed the barrier of self-indulgence into a collective call. BS

Operating since 2014, Falésia began as an expression based specifically on live performances. With the electric guitar at the epicentre of improvisation and experimentation, there was a gradual extension to field recordings or the use of analogue and digital synthesisers. From 2019 onwards, the first recordings appeared on the Bandcamp platform, not only rescuing past archives but also projecting current recordings. The act of documenting as faithfully as possible has led him to constantly share these works in a real-time laboratory space.

In recent years, Falésia has performed in various venues across the country, such as Damas, Galeria Zé dos Bois, Zaratan, Desterro, Casa Independente, Penha Sco (Lisbon), SMUP (Parede), Casa das Artes Bissaya Barreto (Coimbra) and also took part in the Tauranga Music Sux festival in New Zealand in 2015. He has shared stages and posters with Helena Espvall, Luís Lopes, Calcutá, Putas Bêbadas, Bruno Silva (Serpente/Ondness), 2Jack4You, Emma DJ or the Danish Puce Mary, among many others.