Jamie [Teasdale, Kuedo] played me this when we first met at school and apart from the Massive Attack references I have always loved the sense of restraint in this track. It’s a welcome respite from the usual chaos of Mahavishnu and gives me a feeling of being adrift. This is a real oasis of calm compared to everything else. It’s very much the standout track on The Inner Mounting Flame… The rest of it is more traditional – faster, more chaotic Mahavishnu. Billy Cobham, the band’s drummer, is a genius too – he was prolific.
When you’ve spent your whole life working on electronic music and processing things meticulously… hearing someone play an instrument, especially a rhythmic instrument, with that sort of precision – it’s just an incredible feat. Whatever happens, and however long humanity exists, someone dedicating years and years of their life to being so precise and so excellent at something is always amazing. The rhythm tracks on the Mahavishnu stuff are always so insanely precise; it’s the counting that blows my mind.
