Review Electronic music Jazz

Phi-Psonics

Octava Transparent

Gondwana • 2023

The four-piece jazz band Phi-Psonics are on the heels of time on their second album: Things no longer just have to be, something has to change right away. At least in us. »This album is about change and evolving into a higher version of ourselves,« says bassist Seth Ford-Young. And the band’s frontman has a point there. For »Octava« starts with the typical sound of the band from Los Angeles and then turns what is already an introverted approach into a meditation. All eight pieces hold back completely, requiring very deliberate listening. In keeping with the record’s concept, »Where We’ve Been« does not draw on nostalgia, but the sounds still come from an undefinable past, an intangible world which we listen to for just over four minutes. Does »Octava« thus raise everyone to a higher level of consciousness? Probably not. Or perhaps yes. But it doesn’t really matter even when the