Matana Roberts’ latest project and album, Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres, is a dense and experimental dive into the worlds of jazz, spoken word, noise, and chance music. The album’s been kind of teasing me ever since I got a promo of it earlier this year. To be honest, it’s not an easy pill to swallow.

Not to say the album is bad. Not at all, actually. The recording is pristine, and the musicianship is really impressive. What makes this album difficult is how emotionally affecting it is. At every moment, the music or lyrics are reaching for some level of intensity.

If there’s any justice in the world, I’ll find the time to give this a solid review.