A Portal To Here is Work Money Death’s fourth album and their first since the death of guitarist Chris ‘Earl’ Dawkins, who had been the house guitarist for ATA Records. Four side-long improvisations trace a collective journey through grief and honour — the influence of Alice Coltrane channelled through Alice Roberts on harp, Sun Ra-esque horn sections lifting the mood whenever they appear. The third track ‘Brother Earl’ is explicitly for Dawkins: a funeral parade that becomes a celebration, flute and saxophone intertwining over a rhythm that keeps pulling the music back toward joy even as it acknowledges the loss. The final track ‘Sometimes It’s Death’ descends into the inevitable sadness the album has been circling.
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