Kintsugi by Sheldon Agwu (Review)

Sheldon Agwu has been active for several years now, contributing instruments, songwriting, and production to albums by Jordan Rakei, trombonist Nathaniel Cross, and hip-hop producer Intalekt (to name a few). But Kintsugi is the London-based guitarist/producer’s debut solo album — and it’s a rich and consistently intriguing listen that bridges the spaces between jazz, hip-hop, downtempo, ambient, and spoken word.

Although Kintsugi clocks in at a mere 29 minutes, with the majority of its nine songs coming in under the three-minute mark, the album never feels compressed or restrictive. On the opening title track, Agwu ably evokes a sense of spaciousness as Marius Max’s breathy tenor sax meanders its away through a labyrinth of crackling atmospherics, snappy beats, and drifting guitar strums.

The same holds true for the moonlit drones on “Providence,” which sound like they were recorded at three in the morning and seem to obscure a whole ‘nother world, and “Serendipity”’s looped melodies and shimmering tones. And album ender “Archean” slowly disperses over the course of eight minutes, with Agwu’s guitar lazily sketching out Labradford-esque tones and melodic fragments in a way that possesses the looseness of improvisation while still feeling intentional and purposeful — a paradox that guides and informs much of Agwu’s debut.

But all of that atmospherica doesn’t mean that Agwu doesn’t know how to groove, too. “Blighty” and “Airbender” feature plenty of guitar filigree, only set to some boom bap, which anchors the songs and allows the six-string explorations to fly even further afield. And though Kintsugi is a mostly instrumental affair, Ylenia Tilli lends her spiritual-yet-sensual poetry to “Meditation Ribbon Dance,” with Agwu looping her voice into lovely abstraction in the song’s final moments.

The first time I listened to Kintsugi, it was well after midnight, and its lush soundscapes proved particularly affecting in that strange liminal space between alertness and exhaustion. It’s a testament to Sheldon Agwu’s skills as a musician, producer, and collaborator that those same soundscapes prove just as affecting in the daytime, as well.

Kintsugi will be released on April 11, 2025.