At times cold and desolate, at others brimming with life, the effects of Water & Tools will stick with you long after it ends.
The first note of Jairus Sharif’s Water & Tools, the follow-up to 2020’s Mega Optics, is bleak. Every repetition amplifies its harshness, its dark aura a reminder of difficult times that have either passed or are yet to come — it is too early to tell. Synthetic whirs and rushes start populating the soundscape, only to be punctured by the haunting wails of a saxophone echoing through the streets.
The musical equivalent of a cold wind biting at exposed flesh, one yearns for a second of solace, a glimmer of warmth. Comprising nearly a quarter of the album, “Humility” serves as a fitting opener to Sharif’s project. He recognizes the history of his medium, writing of free jazz’s “deep connection to the Black liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s”. The record certainly conveys the themes of that era: resistance, oppression, and perseverance. It also carries within it the sounds of more recent struggles, as Sharif began constructing it shortly after 2020’s uprising against police brutality. The desolation and horror are palpable in the air. Yet before the first track has even ended, Sharif delivers a sense of unbridled hope through uplifting keys and the very same saxophone whose cries could be heard minutes earlier. Birds start chirping. After a long and painful night, the morning finally arrives.
The subsequent twists and turns of Water & Tools are a delight to experience. “Ra Comm 43” is sinister yet hypnotic, while the infectious drumbeat of “Surfacing” brings a celebratory atmosphere to the moody album thus far. “9-5 Silver” is dreamlike; “Ra Comm 8” is disorientating; “Earth III” is extraterrestrial. With its grating synth melody and off-putting drums, “Ra Comm 10” remains the sole weak point of the project. There is little beauty in the disorder and little meaning in the dissonance.
Yet the project returns to full force with the title track, “Water & Tools”. This song has a nomadic element: an acute sense of wonder and exploration. This sentiment remains in the final track, “Dr. Teddy’s Hi Test”. There is a slow and long-awaited buildup; the saxophone gradually grows in scope and size until a symphony of other colourful sounds joins it. Its shrieks and screams reach dizzying heights — an achievement made even more impressive given that Sharif was utterly unfamiliar with the instrument until this record. The chorus of synthetic vocals, the furious drums, and the impassioned saxophone all slowly fade until nothing is left but the faint recording of a man’s voice for the first and last time on the album.
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