A ruminative blend of jazz, ambient and electronic music

Duval Timothy’s work sits in a mellow space between jazz, sound collage, ambient and electronic music—the kind of thing you’d be more likely to hear in a museum installation than a club. Recorded between London, Duval’s hometown of Freetown, Sierra Leone, and a residency in Spoleto, Italy, Meeting With a Judas Tree is interesting, in part, for its ability to mix subtlety with a sense of almost continuous surprise, whether it’s the sudden plucking sounds in “Wood” or the way “Thunder” seems to bend and splinter in mid-air. It’s too engaging to be background music, but you’ll want it on for the same reasons you might pick up fresh flowers: it quietly brightens the room.