Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden


Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden is the tenth solo studio album by American jazz saxophonist Matana Roberts. The album was released on September 29, 2023, by Constellation Records, and is the fifth in Roberts' ongoing Coin Coin album series. The album's narrative centers an ancestor of Roberts who died from an illegal abortion.
The album was recorded in Brooklyn, New York, and mixed and mastered in Montreal. It was produced by Kyp Malone, and featured a lineup including Malone, Mike Pride, Matt Lavelle, Stuart Bogie, and Darius Jones. It covers a variety of genres, including folk, post-rock, and multiple subgenres of jazz. The album was received positively by critics who praised its ambition and breadth of style.

Release

Roberts first announced the album on June 14, 2023, for a September 29 release date by Constellation Records, and released the first three songs, "We Said", "Different Rings", and "Unbeknownst", as a suite. With the announcement, Roberts also released an essay in which they wrote:

Style and themes

In the Garden centers a story of an ancestor of Roberts who died during an illegal abortion. The narrative is more explicit than in past albums in the series, and is described as a character study.
The album blends a number of genres including folk, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, post-bop, spoken word, noise, post-rock, hymns, free jazz, and chamber jazz. The variety of instruments is broader than past Roberts albums, including saxophones, violin, drums, and tin whistle.
A lyrical refrain, "My name is your name/Our name is their name/And we are named/We remember/They forget", is introduced in "Unbeknownst" and repeated throughout the album.

Reception

AllMusic's Thom Jurek said the album's "collision of styles, genres, and individual and group voices are not only welcome, but essential to the process of Roberts engendering dialogue, celebrating difference, and communicating emotions, psychologies, and cultures, all testifying to the import and cultural and artistic achievement of evolving project." The Skinnys Joe Creely said the album's "pieces as a whole feel fuller, and more ambitious than anything Roberts has done to date", and that it "marks another stunning development in a series that remains essential listening."

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

Recording