Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids / SHAMAN!

Evolving around Ackamoor’s intricate compositions, the album takes us effortlessly across moods and emotions through a series of expansive, extended pieces. Starting with ritual, soul-searching, and masculine vulnerability on the title track, the band explores timeless existence on ‘Eternity’ and mourns the sudden loss of loved ones in the prescient ‘When Will I See You Again?’, a track which gains new relevance amidst the current COVID-19 crisis. Ackamoor pays tribute to his mentor Cecil Taylor on the angular ‘Theme For Cecil’ and renders homage to the ancestors on ‘Salvation’ and ‘The Last Slave Ship’, recalling the last ship to bring slaves to the US from Africa, the Clotilda. The superb ‘Virgin’ is an anthem of forgiveness, new beginnings and self-healing.

‘Shaman!’ marks another significant landmark in The Pyramids’ discography with the band at the peak of their powers. It is produced by Malcolm Catto at his analogue HQ, Quatermass Studio, in London. Cover artwork features an exclusive new painting by Japanese artist Tokio Aoyama.