Alabaster Deplume - Gold

2022 release

Behind the offbeat name is an offbeat talent (born Angus Fairbairn) who walks a wavering line between improvisational saxophonist and performance poet. Fairbairn was drifting around Manchester music circles for several years before finding his metier at east London’s Total Refreshment Centre among a community of musicians and fans. Gold, his second album for Chicago indie label International Anthem, was distilled from 17 hours of sessions over two weeks during the summer of 2020 at the venue, all deliberately under-rehearsed to preserve a much-treasured spontaneity. It follows 2020’s To Cy and Lee, whose serene instrumentals (sampled by US folkie Bon Iver) were dedicated to two adults with learning disabilities with whom Fairbairn had worked. Human frailty is one theme in his work, there in a title such as Don’t Forget You’re Precious, a standout that comes with an alarming video.

Most of Gold’s 19 tracks mix DePlume’s hushed declamations with his tenor sax, whose tremulous tone and delicate, circular melodies recall Ethiopian master Getatchew Mekuria, though there are Ayleresque honks on angrier pieces such as Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love, and plenty of robust drumming and choral backing. A conventional jazzer DePlume isn’t, but he has found a dedicated constituency outside the mainstream. An intriguing artist.

Neil Spencer - Observer / Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/mar/05/alabaster-deplume-gold-review-angus-fairbairn-total-refreshment-centre