Alfa Mist - Roulette [2LP]

Roulette is Alfa Mist building an entire imaginary future to explore an old question, spread over 2 LPs and structured so that each song is like a different spin of the wheel.

In five albums, Alfa Mist have never been afraid of big ideas, but this sixth disc is more engaging than usual, a near-future dystopia where reincarnation proves real and provable, and discovery immediately turns into a struggle over who can keep their memories and who can control them. Fifteen tracks, each presented as a different character and turn, linked by his usual toolbox: shimmering keyboards, jazz improvisation that never seems ostentatious, a rhythm section designed to breathe, now filtered by a haze more smoky and psychedelic than his first records allowed.

Reincarnation opens the record with Homeboy Sandman, kicking off the whole premise. The title track is the obvious centerpiece, eight minutes that change time signatures without ever sounding disjointed, because, as Mist says, life isn't linear either. All Time brings in Tawiah for one of the record's warmest moments, and Black Snow closes the album on its darkest, most unresolved note.

One of the most restless minds in British jazz, always finding new ways to make a big idea personal rather than academic.