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Psych-jazz spiritualist ensemble Nymph has often been designated a New York City band, but its trajectory has been one of mystery; the group seemingly subscribes to a philosophy, lineage and scene all its own. Formed seven years ago, Nymph was a quartet as recently as 2010, on its eponymous Social Registry–released debut. That disc, recorded by Jason Meagher of No Neck Blues Band, pointed to its most viable niche, in which outfits like NNCK, White Out and Excepter have created new sound paradigms.
While No Neck has splintered into the likes of Rhyton and D. Charles Speer, Nymph has soldiered on, spreading its utopian, shape-shifting free-jazz-cum-trance-rock—just not nearly often enough—to places like the now-defunct Williamsburg music hub Zebulon. Piloted by a pair of sonic radicals, guitarist Matty McDermott and vocalist Eri Shoji, the group has morphed into an experimentalist community of sorts, expanding to a seven-member army before landing on thriving local label Northern Spy.
Enriched by recent collaborations with free-jazz revolutionary Arthur Doyle, Nymph has just released New Millennium Prayer. The album’s deep-marathon jams conjure a noise-fueled ecstasy, dripping with epically coiled riffs and piercing horn blasts, set to the skronking propulsions of ’60s-style free jazz and funkified, tribal rhythms. Shoji, the collective’s overlord, pilots this Ayleresque ship—her ethereal screeching and wailing make Nymph a singular presence to be both seen and heard.—Brad Cohan