Nubya Garcia’s simple titles conceal worlds of complexity. Source, her 2020 debut, paid tribute to the British saxophonist’s roots in London jazz and the Afro-Caribbean diasporic sounds that inspired her. Odyssey, the follow-up, is a wilder, more expansive work—a veritable quest of a record sporting ornate orchestral arrangements, meticulously layered mixes, and countless twists and turns.
That combination doesn’t always make for easy listening, at least initially. Source was adventurous, but its strong melodic lines and sunny disposition were relatively easy on the ears, helped along by a healthy dose of hip-hop, soul, and reggae. Odyssey is more involved: a mournful, imposing work made up of hundreds of moving parts. At times—such as on the frantic title track, or surging toward the climax of the turbulent opener, “Dawn,” featuring Esperanza Spalding—it sounds like the whole band is soloing simultaneously, a disorienting yet exhilarating experience. “The Seer” feels almost enraged: Sam Jones’ hulking, broken-beat-inspired drums shatter against Joe Armon-Jones’ darkly dramatic piano jabs, Daniel Casimir’s impatient double bass, and Garcia’s tenor, which has the on-edge feel of a headache on a humid afternoon.
A pair of calmer songs fill out the album’s midsection, but even these aren’t exactly relaxed, despite the slower tempos. Georgia Anne Muldrow’s quavering vocal melody on “We Walk in Gold” never quite seems to resolve, and the song is charged with the nervous air of a coming storm, eventually building towards an irascible climax. The string arrangement of “Water’s Path” spins and bobbles like a wind-up toy as it picks away at James Douglas’ opulent cello lead. Sometimes this intensity feels deliciously contradictory: In “Solstice,” the band probes the internal conflict between skittish, flustered drums and Garcia’s sumptuous and supremely confident tenor saxophone lead.
The contemporary genres that Garcia explored on Source are less present on Odyssey. Jones’ exhilarating drum lines occasionally resemble drum’n’bass or broken beat; “Set It Free,” featuring Kokoroko’s Richie, bounds with the revitalizing spring of hip-hop; and the closing “Triumphance” is, for all intents and purposes, dub jazz. But these are exceptions. In their place are orchestral arrangements whose majestic air brings to mind the symphonic jazz of Kamasi Washington’s The Epic.
Much like Washington’s masterpiece, Odyssey requires a degree of concentration, but the album is all the richer for being slow to reveal its hand. New highlights appear with every spin. Consider, for example, how drums and piano play a game of cat and mouse halfway through “Odyssey”; or Garcia’s lush saxophone tone driving the band through an unsettling series of chord changes toward the start of “In Other Words, Living”; or the ever-so-subtle reggae touch underpinning “Clarity.” Another sitting might yield a completely different set of revelations.