Spiritual State Review

Judging this fairly means separating the loss from the material, which is difficult and worth attempting. There are real songs here. Spiritual State, with Uyama Hiroto on saxophone, is as good as anything he made, patient and unhurried and rising slowly across five minutes. Down on the Land has that familiar walking bass warmth. Sky Is Tumbling, with Cise Starr, is a proper closer. But other tracks are clearly sketches that a living producer would have revisited, loops that repeat without development and mixes that sit slightly flat next to the crispness of his earlier work.

The sequencing was done by others and it shows in the transitions. Substantial and Pase Rock deliver verses that are more eulogy than performance, which is understandable and does affect the record. It is a moving artefact and a decent album, and anyone starting here rather than with Modal Soul will not understand what the fuss was about.