French born, London based musician Pascal Bideau releases his music as Akusmi. His new album, Fleeting Future, arrived in my inbox promising 'minimalism, cosmic jazz and Fourth World influences'. Signed to Tonal Union, the album came out back in June. Akusmi pulls off a trick that sounds difficult on paper- fusing electronic music and jazz with Indonesian Gamelan. Some of those terms sound daunting, serious even, but Akusmi does his thing with deftness and a lightness of touch that shouldn't scare anyone away. This is rich music, full of textures, hypnotic but accessible, adventurous and fun. On Divine Moments Of Truth an acoustic guitar riff leads the way, soon joined by other instruments, a jazz feel with the repetition of electronica, building without ever reaching a crescendo and then fading suddenly.
On album closer Yurikamome skittering rhythms and stringed instruments form a base for a sax to play over, jubilant melodies flitting around, creating something both experimental and uplifting. Akusmi named the track after the Japanese monorail train which sweeps from Shinbashi to Toyosu and the music perfectly evokes that sense of momentum, of a train rattling along the tracks between cities.
