Jairus Sharif - Basis of Unity
Telephone Explosion Records
Released on Feb 28th 2025
After a celebrated debut album, the anxieties that come with the anticipation, or worse, the expectation of a sophomore record surely weighed heavy on composer and self-taught instrumentalist Jairus Sharif. His debut, Water & Tools, received critical acclaim and a Polaris long list nomination, but that achievement was marred by a tremendous loss in Sharif’s personal life. When beginning the process of writing Basis of Unity, Sharif stalled. "I got to this point where I wasn't able to create truthfully anymore.” This led him to a process of grieving and healing through meditation, a theme that girds his latest album, Basis of Unity.
Like his first record, Sharif shrouds free jazz in a haze of electronic interference. But this time around, his approach was more diffuse. Where Water & Tools was noisy and wild, Basis of Unity deals in drone and ambience. Each track is pinned down by meditative and swirling incantations that lull the listener into a place where they are ready to really feel the music. The repetitious nature of the songs is what gives them their power - phrases repeated through various hues of bit-crunched noise and droning miasma put the listener in a trance-like state to join Sharif on his spiritual search.
The calming ambience evokes the afterlife as Sharif goes on a cosmic journey, searching for and remembering his lost loved one. His saxophone swirls, bounces, and wails as he moves through the hereafter. All of his yearning, grief, hope, and peace is blown through his horn while electronics twist and gnarl. The electronics serve to interfere with his memories, just as those memories fade and morph over time. Sometimes, the fog of noise overtakes the music, blurring the memories into an indecipherable haze.
For those inclined towards close-listening music, there is so much to hear in Basis of Unity. I returned to it time and time again, and I heard something new on every listen. There are faint whispers, gentle field recordings, the slightest touches of percussive instruments, there is even a brief collaboration with Malcolm Mooney (original vocalist for Can). It’s like an album full of sonic Easter eggs. There is a deep textural richness to the production that will have you returning for more and more, but to focus on the minutiae of the production would be to miss the forest for the trees. Basis of Unity is an emotional and spiritual journey that is meant to be felt, not pondered. Put on some headphones, close your eyes, and join Jairus Sharif on a healing journey.
- Clay Geddert