Terra Ignota

Description

Elations Recordings presents “Terra Ignota”, the long-awaited new full length album
from elusive Melbourne based fusion ensemble Krakatau.
“Terra Ignota” marks a return and an epochal shift for the group, a deep exploration
of possible sonic spaces and a portent of things to come. In the years since 2016’s
cosmic jazz funk-prog-spiritual 12″ “Tharsis Montes/Apogean Tide” Krakatau have
worked on refining their craft as instrumentalists and writers, expanding further into
the world of jazz and fusing influences from world folk musics, contemporary jazz
and the European post-minimalist music of the 1980s and early 90s.
“Terra Ignota”, literally translated as “Unknown Land”, takes its name from the
cartographer’s notation for uncharted territory, the blank spaces on maps where
knowledge gives way to imagination and speculation, gesturing towards the group’s
studio explorations and search for new sonic worlds in the years spent developing
the record.
The results are a diverse yet unified combination of sounds and influences across five
tracks that see Krakatau drawing closer to the independent underground “world”

jazz scene of the 1980s than anything contemporary. The album opens with the digi-
minimalism and fourth world atmospherics of title track “Terra ignota”, a percussion

heavy latin fusion sound in “Birds of Passage”, and melancholic ambient saxophone
and synthesiser duo “In Memory”. Three-part epic “Cosmetic Surgery” journeys
through a long, complex post-minimalist arrangement into latin fusion and

contemporary jazz, followed by the contemplative ECM-styled acoustic quartet
closer “Trial in Absentia”.
The album features significant contributions from saxophonist Rob Vincs, former
Victorian College of the Arts head of Jazz and Improvisation and a collaborator with
Australian musician Brian Brown; layered percussion and wordless vocals from
Brazilian percussionist and esteemed songwriter Alcides Neto; and a guest
performance from trumpet player Reuben Lewis on the title track.