Photo by: Rob Lewis
What a surprise it was to receive a gift from one of the inspiring musicians of our times!
The email title was, “Exclusive Music Gift, a Very Exciting Update & Gratitude!”
The sender was Esperanza Spalding.
Lo and behold, Esperanza Spalding sent the folks on her mailing list an exclusive EP (on a password protected page!) that we could stream and download, called (as far as I could tell), Prismid Sanctuary Gratitude Songs 2025.
At just 15 minutes and 1 second long, the 6 tracks on the EP are:
- 1803
- GOOD CLEAN MILLION
- ARTSHERE
- INDIGENOUS LIFEWAYS
- AYE
- LANGUAGE
There was no obvious track numbering, so I had to deduce it based on the visual presentation on the page.
On my desktop, it looked like this:
But, when I made the page smaller (emulating a mobile first display), it looked like this:
With that, I took that as a sign that this was my best guess at the running order for the EP.
The EP opens with an acoustic bass and solo voice piece entitled 1803. The bassline is driving and Esperanza’s voice creates a hypnotic texture against the ostinato bassline. The recording sounds live, seemed like it was just recorded live together in one take. I love how it sounds – it really evokes an organic feeling which is fitting with the context of the EP. As for the lyrical content, I am not sure what events or circumstances 1803 references. This is something I’ll be interested to learn more about when others write about this EP!
The second piece, GOOD CLEAN MILLION begins with a steady nylon string guitar part accompanying Esperanza’s voice. There’s a hint of some Joni Mitchell vibes to me and again the piece feels very intimate, which is charming as she sings, “with all that needs to be well, for us to be in harmony…” To me the vibrato sounds very Joni too!
The third piece, ARTSHERE starts with the most “studio” vibes as we hear the acoustic bass setting the foundation for layers of voices that come on top. The layers are calming and beautiful especially when you hear the harmonies that she sings.
INDIGENOUS LIFEWAYS, the fourth piece comes in with a similar recording aesthetic as the first track, again with a counterpoint of the acoustic bass and voice. There’s more of a groove here and as the piece goes on, just as I thought the song was about to end, a new section with a little mantra like part goes on as the bass explores different ideas.
AYE is the first track that I really hear some keyboard pads to add a texture between the acoustic bass and layers of voices. Again every once in awhile the harmonized voices adds so much beauty to the piece.
Closing the EP is LANGUAGE, a primarily layered vocal piece. The rhythms and textures feels natural and hypnotic. That’s all we hear until some kind clapping or percussive hits come in… and then the EP ends.
All in all, this EP is 100% vibes and feels like the perfect counterpoint to the this current project that Esperanza and the entire team has going on in Portland. There’s an attractive quality to the album that I feel transmits probably the vision of what they have for the sanctuary, in a musical form. And with that, the EP is a beautiful musical gift for us all.
Talking about Prismid Sanctuary, I for one hope to at least visit the the Sanctuary property the next time I am in Portland, and if possible maybe even collaborate in some way? One can dream right? We’ll see! Till then, I’ll keep following the updates of what they are up to, and listen to this EP.
Rating: 5/5
This EP was sent via a private link to subscribers of Esperanza’s mailchimp email list. You can sign up for this at her website: https://esperanzaspalding.com/ (scroll all the way down for the sign up form)
Find out more about Prismid Sanctuary here: https://www.prismid.org/ and sign up for their email newsletter here.
[About Esperanza Spalding]
esperanza spalding is an eaabibacliitoti* artist, trained and initiated in the North American jazz lineage and tradition. Her work interweaves various combinations of instrumental music, improvisation, singing, composition, poetry, dance, therapeutic research, storytelling, teaching, restorative urban land & artist-sanctuary custodianship, and growing in love as a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, auntie, great-auntie, friend.
She founded and serves as co-director of Prismid Sanctuary, a non-profit that creates and stewards restorative artist residency & workshop space in Portland, Oregon (Prismid.org).
With her dance project “Off Brand gOdds” and the Songwrights Apothecary Lab she leads multi-week performances, workshops, teaching, and therapeutic-arts research residencies. She is a 2024 recipient of the Doris Duke Foundation Artist Award and a 2016 Ford Foundation “Art of Change” Fellow.
*European-African ancestored being influenced by American cultures living in Indigenous Territories of Turtle Island
[Submissions for Review Consideration]
If you are an artist, record label or press outreach interested for me to feature your new release on this site, please email me at azsamad3 at gmail dot com.
I prefer physical CD submissions whenever possible alongside streaming/download links. Do not attach any files to the email but include Dropbox/Google Drive links.
I cannot guarantee a review for every submission & if I’m not too into it, I may opt not to review it. I mean, it’s better to get a good review that for me to write a bad review just because it’s not a match for the kind of stuff I dig right? :p
NOTE: All reviews reflect my honest personal opinion so be aware that I will point out both cool Pros and Cons that I see in the work. Thanks!