**Edition of 300** Within Pita Parka, Pt. II: Nim Egduf, Dun-Dun Band conjures a portal into imagined places, offering each segment as a gentle invitation to lose and find oneself in communal rhythm. The album, composed and arranged by long-standing Toronto innovator Craig Dunsmuir, features a ten-piece lineup, its textures contoured by shakers, congas, brass, keyboards, and multiple guitars. Opening with “No. 3 (No Chess Today),” the ensemble spins out repetitive, tropical guitar loops and drifting wind arrangements, gradually escalating and pulling back, underlining their preference for dynamic tension over simple groove satisfaction. At moments, atmospheric pauses shatter the bliss, only for the full band to return in delirious free-jazz roars reminiscent of Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet.
Each track marks a distinct emotional trajectory—“Drizzly” emerges with a Hammond organ riff and wah-wah guitar, gently spiraling into tight-knit dance patterns and expansive woodwind dialogues. “Long Winter” combines spaciousness with Ethio-jazz grooves, featuring clarinet and saxophone lines that fragment and reassemble in lively counterpoint. Throughout, Dunsmuir’s guitar lines occasionally evoke the percussive articulations of gnawa’s sintir, mirroring the global curiosity underlying the band’s collective method. The ensemble avoids the pitfalls of generic “world music” clichés, favoring sophisticated, respectful borrowings adorned with contemporary urgency.
Much of the record’s strength lies in its refusal to let listeners drift into pure meditation—the arrangements are always at risk of transformation. Contemplative passages are vulnerable, quickly transfigured by bursts of energy: pulsing bass, brass punctuating harmonic peaks, guitar riffs anchoring momentary flights into earthier ground. Key contributors such as Jay Anderson (Roland Handsonic), Josh Cole (bass), and Colin Fisher (tenor saxophone) inject individuality that merges into the group’s shared momentum. The final selection, “Styrofoam (Kaji),” closes the program on a muted, duskier tone—ethereal yet restless, the sound a reflection of bodies moving among psychedelic dust devils.
Pita Parka, Pt. II: Nim Egduf does not offer escapism so much as it enables transformation—bliss and reality in dialogue, melodic surfaces disrupted and rebuilt, every layer attentive to the balance between heady exploration and grounded musicality. Dun-Dun Band’s approach remains unpretentious and inviting, rewarding repeated listens with new discoveries in ensemble interplay and subtle rhythmic play. In a scene where ambient jazz and global echoes often risk drifting into repetition for repetition’s sake, this release succeeds in making each groove an adventure, every shift an act of shared imagination.
