Endlessness by Nala Sinephro

Review written by Hollis K.

London-based Nala Sinephro is making her mark in contemporary jazz. Endlessness, which includes 10 songs, “Continuum” 1-10, came out September 6th, 2024, and within 45 minutes Sinephro creates a wonderful soundtrack that mixes jazz with ambient electronic music. When I was first experiencing this album I was working in a place where I was given control of the music; I played the album four times. Many of the people who were there the whole time didn’t notice this, asking me what album I was playing. There was something wonderful about how this album moves so smoothly within itself, something that’s incredibly difficult to do that Nala succeeds at. As stated by Nala’s website, the album has a consistent theme described as a “deep dive into the cycle of existence,” using the arpeggio and continuum to fulfill this concept.

A continuum is a sequence where adjacent elements have minor differences, but the further apart they are the more different they become. The album moves with ease from song to song; it’s hard to tell when one starts and ends, and most songs phase in and out slowly. As the album progresses there is a slow shift between the songs. In “Continuum 1,” the album starts slow and non-intrusively; it lulls the listener into the sequence. In contrast, the final song, “Continuum 10,” is lively. Listening from start to finish, the shift is subtle, but the realization comes full circle when starting the album over once again, and moving into the quiet nature of “Continuum 1.” Life is also a continuum; time moves in a sequence where the day-to-day doesn’t feel much different, while being an adult versus a child feels quite different. It’s something I deeply appreciate about this album; it uses this simple method to mimic life. For me, the arpeggio continues to support this.

The album is held together by an arpeggio a chord played in sequence instead of simultaneously. The arpeggio fits in each song differently fading in and out, taking a commanding lead, or just bubbling up. In “Continuum 1,” the arpeggio is the opener before the drums take its place dissolving it out, while in the final the arpeggio takes the lead. It cycles in and out through this motion bringing me back to the cycle of existence. The arpeggio represents the repetitive things we must do to live. Eat, sleep, work, and when we break away from the arpeggio we find the spontaneous nature of life. The repetition of it grounds the music to reality. Still, the magic is when it’s broken away, making this push and pull between these seemingly improvised sounds and the recurring arpeggio. These songs become this balancing act of the arpeggio carefully placing it when needed, and contrasting the parts that weren’t as structured throughout the music.

The most exciting part of listening to the album was the smooth quality. It was nearly impossible for me to tell the difference between songs in their transitions. Even when I believed that a song was done and moved on to the next one I was almost always wrong; it felt impossibly long. This whole album is done intentionally, and it’s a large part of why this album moves so easily part by part. That’s because this is more of a giant composition and each part is a movement, something not many people do within music at the moment, making Sinephro stand out. To produce something like this a lot of difficult decisions must be made and every note must be intentionally done to be successful. That’s why no one could tell it was played four times at the place where I was working. To me, there’s a testament to how well the album holds up to replayability. There’s always something new to listen to through each listen, the arpeggio, sax, synths, harp, drums, etc. It’s calm and relaxing but also filled to the brim with exciting textured sounds. It mirrors the cycles and life we live every day. This album isn’t endless just because it sounds never-ending, but because it can be listened to endlessly. It’s been a long time since an album has done this for me, many becoming difficult to listen to on repeated plays, but Sinephro has a developed skill at creating a vast album, making it truly endless.