Represencing

Led by Joshua Abrams on guimbri, the group features flutist Nicole Mitchell, saxophonist David Boykin, bass clarinetist Jason Stein, electric guitarists Emmett Kelly and Jeff Parker, cellist Tomeka Reid, harmonium player Lisa Alvarado, drummers Chad Taylor and Mikel Avery, and percussionist Michael Zerang.

[1][2][3][4][5][6] In an article for The New York Times, Nate Chinen noted the album's "earthy intelligence," describing it as "seductive, invested in the mysterious power of the drone," and writing: "It's music that hints at the ceremonial without losing its modern bearings.

"[7] Grayson Haver Currin of Pitchfork commented: "As Abrams and his crew of Chicago cohorts gain steam without abandoning their simple, looping structures, it feels like we're catching a glimpse of a potentially eternal performance... Represencing rarely sounds overloaded or messy.

"[11] Writing for Tiny Mix Tapes, Clifford Allen described the album as "a fascinating and evocative set of transient contemporary improvisation that renders boundaries of time, place, and subculture only obliquely relevant."

"[8] In a review for Consequence, Adam Kivel wrote: "Abrams assembles some of the city's best improvisers to work over the guimbri, but that droning beauty always lies at the core... Represencing is the kind of album that effaces the reality that you know exists outside of it, returning you to a time and place in which this sort of ritual trance focuses life.