Hundreds of miles south of Cairo, in an area known as Nabta Playa, lies the world’s oldest known stone circle. This ancient structure, likely used as an astronomical observatory back in the day, forms the basis of Journey to Nabta Playa, an exploratory collaboration between multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and interdisciplinary artist Naima Nefertari. Like the title states, the album is a journey, diving from one sound world to the next, aided by a vast array of acoustic and electronic instruments.

The listener is surrounded by African bird calls in ‘Heru: The Oasis’, before falling into a pool of trap beats and delayed clarinet in ‘Black Stones of Sirius’; such an open-ended sonic palette is at times overwhelming. And yet, throughout the 20 or so minutes that constitutes ‘Exorcism: Clearing the Electromagnetic Field’, the juxtaposition between the controlled, futurist sounds of synthesiser and the more careering, organic-leaning flute and string box improvisations takes effect. The result is along the lines of Sun Ra’s work, both alien and earthly, with a liberating, spiritual undertone, transporting the listener through the cosmos.