Body to Inhabit
Track six, featuring the rapper Elucid over flute, harp and Esperanza Spalding's bass.
Shabaka, from Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (2024)
Wikipedia credits Chaz Jerome Hall, the legal name of Elucid, one half of the New York duo Armand Hammer with billy woods. Hutchings plays flute and svirel, Brandee Younger and Charles Overton harp, Chris Sholar electronic percussion and Esperanza Spalding bass. It was recorded in the Van Gelder sessions that began in May 2022, with no exact date for this track. Mojo called it superb and noted that Elucid revisits a verse from Armand Hammer's We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (2023) centered on breathing, which fits the album's meditative theme. Louder Than War heard Elucid's delivery grow more intense over Hutchings's calm bamboo flute, and The Arts Desk's Sebastian Scotney heard a rhythmic springiness driven by Spalding's bass, unlike the album's meditative mood.
Not everyone agreed: Gina Loves Jazz's Matthias Kirsch called it the only track that does not really click for him. Stereogum called the collaboration poetic and incendiary and the album's highlight, and Elucid also appears on the planned EP Possession. It was not a single and has no video. We do not know if it is played live. The upload is the studio recording.
Sources
- Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, Wikipedia
- Shabaka review, Mojo
- Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty review, Louder Than War (2024-04-05)
- Shabaka Perceive Its Beauty review, The Arts Desk