Uneasy - Vijay Iyer (2LP Vinyl)

Uneasy by Vijay Iyer.

Recorded in December 2019 at Oktaven Audio Studio in Mount Vernon, New York, "Uneasy" arrives as a spacious double LP that gives Vijay Iyer's music room to breathe across four sides. The setting is intimate and deliberate, the kind of studio environment where every touch of the piano and every shift in rhythm carries weight, and the pressing spreads ten pieces over generous grooves so nothing feels crowded.

The first side opens with intent, moving from the somber, socially charged undercurrent of "Children Of Flint" into the tense pulse of "Combat Breathing" before easing into a reading of the standard "Night And Day." That sequence tells you a lot about the record's ambitions: it holds contemporary urgency and jazz tradition in the same hand, letting the familiar and the newly written speak to one another.

Side B keeps the momentum with "Touba" and "Drummer's Song," two pieces that lean into groove and interplay. Here the trio's conversation feels loose and alert, built on the give and take between piano, bass, and drums, with rhythm treated as a living, shifting foundation rather than a fixed grid.

The third side gathers some of the album's most searching material, from the quiet anticipation of "Augury" through the shifting geometry of "Configurations" and into the title track, "Uneasy." That title piece sits at the heart of the record and lends the whole project its mood, a sense of music made in unsettled times that refuses easy resolution and instead sits honestly with tension.

Side D closes things out with "Retrofit" and "Entrustment," a pairing that balances forward motion against a feeling of care and handing off. It is a fitting way to end, leaving the listener with something offered rather than concluded, the trio stepping back after a set that has ranged widely without ever losing its center.

Pressed across two records for the space and dynamics the performances deserve, this is a rewarding addition for anyone drawn to modern piano jazz that thinks as hard as it swings. From the freshly written material to the lone standard tucked into side one, "Uneasy" rewards close and repeated listening, and it belongs on the shelf of collectors who value contemporary jazz that engages fully with the world around it.

Pressing Details:
Recorded December 2019
Oktaven Audio Studio, Mount Vernon, NY

Track Listing:
A1. Children Of Flint
A2. Combat Breathing
A3. Night And Day
B1. Touba
B2. Drummer's Song
C1. Augury
C2. Configurations
C3. Uneasy
D1. Retrofit
D2. Entrustment

Artist: Vijay Iyer

Supporting Artists: Linda Oh, Tyshawn Sorey

Format: 2LP

Genre: Jazz

Label: ECM Records

Catalog Number: ECM 2692

Release Year: 2021

Country: Germany

Condition: Sealed (New)