Cicadas are the stars of “Now (Forever Momentary Space),” the opening song from Damon Locks and the Black Monument Ensemble’s second album NOW. When the jazz outfit set up to record in the back garden at Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio one sweaty day last August, the cicadas were there too. Their sound functions as a static texture behind the vocalists and Angel Bat Dawid’s standout clarinet performance, but the seasonal insects also capture the piece’s theme: the present.

Locks and Black Monument Ensemble’s debut, Where the Future Unfolds, was an exultant look ahead, an expression of the burning desire for a brighter tomorrow as justice for history’s ills. “Now” is comparatively meditative, beginning with a wistful sample of a dream retold until it’s upended by Locks’ alarm clock-like electronics and those cicadas. From there, the song maintains its restful mood, the voices gently growing louder as Dawid’s clarinet meanders. There is neither hurry nor concern. No matter how familiar, the sound of cicadas is proof that any moment can be special; Locks and the ensemble honor that truth by capturing it.