First taking flight from the African American idiom of jazz, for more than half a century freely improvised music has given way to countless individualized languages and approaches that span the globe, allowing artists to shed constraint and structure in order to express, create, and converse on entirely liberated terms.

Despite the practice’s remarkable diversity, dominant strains have generally retained a foothold in the proximity where it began. With that in hand, perhaps because of early, outspoken figures like Derek Bailey and Cornelius Cardew - each representing a remarkably distinct set of ideas and singular practical approaches - the British scene has always stood slightly apart, displaying a striking density of artists who venture further into the unknown, moving away from jazz to create organizations of sound that stand almost entirely on their own.

Among the most visionary of these is the writer, theorist, and musician, David Toop. Here at SoundOhm, we’re long time fans of his seminal contributions, making it an absolute thrill to shine some light on the long overdue reissue of his stunning 1980 duo LP, Wounds, made with the veteran percussionist Paul Burwell.

Emerging in the capable hands of Song Cycle - joining a catalog of gems that includes singular efforts by Michael Snow, Marcel Duchamp, Christina Kubisch, Terry Fox, and others, not to mention their reissues of the iconic Revolutions Per Minute, Fluxus Anthology, and Poesia Sonora ‎compilations - it’s an absolute stunner that shouldn’t be missed on any count.

Giving way to a rattling expanse of texture, complex polyrhythm, and bristling tone that draws the ear toward fundamental meanings at the primal root of music itself, Wounds is an album suspended between the unfolding of time, witnessed performance, and circular ritual, collectively rising as a sonorous expanse, offering an unlikely, optimistic path through the darkening times during which it was made.

A seminal document of British improvisation, harnessing the use of non-canonical instruments to express in entirely new ways, this is a record, in a two sided sweep, that reminds us what the avant-garde is all about.

An absolutely brilliant thrilling experience in listening, we couldn’t possibly recommend it enough. Reissued for the very first time, with all the love and care for which Song Cycle has become know, Wounds remains a revelation 40 years after it first entered the world.

As essential as they come.