The Animal Spirits

by James Holden & The Animal Spirits

Type: Album
Released: 3 November 2017
Label: Border Community
Country: United Kingdom
Length: 48:38
Community rating: 3.66/5 from 8 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Marking a significant shift from solo electronic production to bandleader, 'The Animal Spirits' captures James Holden leading a live ensemble in a vibrant fusion of modular synthesis, spiritual jazz, and folk-trance traditions. The album was recorded live in single takes, deliberately creating a symbiotic exchange between sequenced patterns and the organic, improvisational energy of drums, brass, and woodwinds. This approach results in a psychedelic and rhythmically complex sound that blurs the distinction between human performance and machine-driven music.

Genres

Descriptors: improvisation, polyrhythmic, motorik, percussive, live

Tracklist

Incantation for Inanimate Object (01:41)
Spinning Dance (05:29)
Pass Through the Fire (06:26)
Each Moment Like the First (04:57)
The Beginning & End of the World (06:39)
Thunder Moon Gathering (07:28)
The Animal Spirits (05:37)
The Neverending (04:29)
Go Gladly Into the Earth (05:52)

Credits

James Holden - synth [modular synth], recorded by, producer, mixed by, written-by, art direction, percussion, vocals
Liza Bec - tenore recorder, recorder, mizmar [ghaita]
Lascelle Gordon - percussion
Etienne Jaumet - saxophone
Tom Page - drums
Marcus Hamblett - cornet
Reef Caribbean - vocals
Gemma Sheppard - art direction, percussion, vocals
Shane McEnhill - lacquer cut by
Jack Featherstone - layout
Eric James (5) - mastered by
Katherine Mager - photography by