Vega Trails

Vega Trails is the expansive, cinematic, chamber-jazz project from double-bassist and composer Milo Fitzpatrick, a founder member of Portico Quartet and features saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands, Sunda Arc). Having cut 2022’s beautifully resonant debut album ‘Tremors in the Static’ as a duo, Milo now substantially expands upon that blueprint with his follow-up, ‘Sierra Tracks’, which, as the title suggests, was conceived at his new home in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains north-west of Madrid. From the epic five-minute opener, ‘Largo’, onwards, there’s a cinematic feel to ‘Sierra Tracks’, as each piece unfolds according to its own sweeping narrative, often wonderfully evocative of the mountains’ wide-open spaces, and also sometimes elaborately arranged with cello, orchestral strings, vibraphone and piano, to evoke their awe-inspiring natural splendour. ‘Reverie’ has a refrain that fades in and out, like a daydream”. ‘Els’ is more firmly rooted in folk melody, while ‘Dream House’ and ‘Sleepwalk Tokyo’ boost a sense of otherworldliness. Sierra Tracks is out now