IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS is a Philadelphia/New York/DC-based free jazz collective consisting of poet/MC Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. Originally performing as two different ensembles at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event in 2015 (in response to the NYPD slaying of Akai Gurley), the five musicians recognized a shared ethos, and shortly after, assembled as a single unit for an impromtu studio date at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn. That session yielded their debut album Irreversible Entanglements (released by International Anthem & Don Giovanni in September 2017). Critical and communal acclaim for the album (including “Best of 2017” nods from NPR Music, WIRE Magazine, Bandcamp, and others) fueled a high demand for the band in the live setting, and the group have since spent much of 2018 and 2019 on the road. They have collaborated in performance with many legends of creative music including Amina Claudine Myers, Pat Thomas, and Nicole Mitchell; and their highest profile shows have included Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Le Guess Who Festival In Utrecht NL, Barbican in London, and the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Irreversible Entanglements’ new album will be released LP/CD/Digital by International Anthem & Don Giovanni in Spring of 2020.
Some past press notes on Irreversible Entanglements and their self-titled 2017 debut:
“This is jazz that sounds like it’s being played at the front of a parade of extremely pissed-off protesters. And Ayewa’s words—which are furious, but delivered with seething rage rather than showy howls—add to the intensity until it’s almost too much to take. This album will make you clench your fists.” (Phil Freeman, Stereogum)
“Irreversible Entanglements‘ self-titled debut wakes the frozen body to move, the dead mind to react, the mute mouth to scream resistance.” Lars Gotrich, NPR Music)
“It’s a harrowing listen, and one of the most powerful and relevant works of art you’ll encounter this year.” (Stewart Smith, The Quietus)
“A kinetic bubbling over of collective political and spiritual energy.” (Liz Pelly, Shadow Proof)
“Music doesn’t get much more powerful than this.” (Dave Sumner, Bandcamp)
