Lucy Clifford - Between Spaces of Knowing (2024) [Hi-Res]

Following off the back of her recent EP release ‘Meeting Place’, this latest full-length album serves as a continuation into Lucy’s creative identity and features a collective of Sydney’s diverse artists in improvised music, including Thomas Avgenicos on trumpet, David Reglar on tenor saxophone, Freyja Garbett on piano, Alex Masso on drums and Chris Fields on percussion. Created amidst years of transient living between countries and constant motion, Between Spaces Of Knowing draws inspiration from life’s in-between moments of contemplation, where we meet our real selves. Each track off the album is inspired by defining life-reflections that lead to new understandings and aims to remind listeners how much can be learnt from finding presence in the many spaces and places we find ourselves. The vibrant single ‘Where We Listen’ was featured on the ABC Jazz compilation album ‘Women of Jazz 2024’, and is available for listening now.

As the recipient of the 2022 Jann Rutherford Memorial award, along with support from the ABC Jazz Scholarship Program, Lucy was able to bring this album to completion. The record melds jazz and improvised music with a kaleidoscope of influences from its members explorations in Latin, Indian, West African, Caribbean and American musical traditions. As a result, Between Spaces Of Knowing bursts with both collaborative energy and repose, dynamic grooves, and a melding of styles that translates into an exhilarating experience.

With each track, the complete breadth of the album's musical scope is revealed. From the tranquil of Breathe, the album’s opening track, Lucy offers a lyrical electric bass improvisation alongside field recordings from Sydney’s south coastal bushlands. While swirling rhodes and gentle melodies nurture a sense of calm in Can We Keep Coming Back Here, a track that tells the importance of human connection, rhythmic loops where percussive layers build, break these cycles. Drift, a contemplative ballad that ebbs and flows, pulls listeners in with a sublime trumpet solo from Avgenicos and feels reminiscent of ‘letting go.’ The vibrant and spirited energy of Where We Listen, a track dedicated to honouring cross-cultural exchanges of the African and Caribbean musical diasporas seamlessly intertwines infectious beats and melodic motifs. Sundaze Part 1 spotlights glimmers of sweeping chordal textures in a solo bass exploration, seldom portrayed on electric, whilst Sundaze Part 2 echo’s the quiet power of consistency, as it finds its strength in the meditative bassline that picks up energy and motion the more it is repeated. Sidewalk, a track inspired by embracing perspectives, keeping an open mind and finding presence even in the chaos of a big city, is bold in its groove, and edgy and restless in its melody. Half Moon closes out this 8-track album with its Roy Ayers inspired groove that captures the spirit of this collaboration, one that celebrates the joy of community, communal bonds and collective energy, which is essentially what Lucy loves most about this artform.

Lucy Clifford, electric bass
Thomas Avgenicos, trumpet
David Reglar, tenor saxophone
Freyja Garbett, piano, keyboards, Fender Rhodes
Alex Masso, drums
Chris Fields, percussion