Some musicians find an extant niche and set up camp within its borders. Others, however, set out for the hinterlands and build a castle. The turrets of Austin’s Josh Peters and Joshua Thomson, aka Atlas Maior, still stand on their latest EP, Hadal. Thomson (saxophone) and Peters (oud) write music amalgamating American, Arabic, Moroccan, African, and Brazilian sources, assisted by bassist Tarik Hassan and versatile drummers Stefan Del Bosque and Aaron Parks. Bending these elements to their own purposes, the Maiorians set “Basalt” to synthesize Ornette Coleman, samba, and the Arab Peninsula. “Fata Morgana,” meanwhile, evokes free jazz, swing, and Ghanaian highlife through lugubrious sax, caffeinated oud, and dual drum kits. Signposted by similar melodies and solo sections for alto sax and oud, “Ignis Fatuus” and “Hadal” form a two-part opus of Middle Eastern folk and spiritual jazz. Worldbeat jazz strains through personal vision to erect Hadal high on its own hill.

This article appears in April 7 • 2023.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.