Kaleidoscopic Visions showcases Tom Skinner drawing together the many threads of his career as one of the UK’s most versatile and free-thinking contemporary musicians. Performing and recording with Sons of Kemet, The Smile, David Byrne, Meshell Ndegeocello, Alabaster DePlume, Floating Points and Peter Zummo as well as a wide range of collaborations across London’s vibrant improvised and electronic scene, Skinner’s diverse touchpoints are brought together in an album of quiet power and profound truths, reflecting his journey so far and opening the road towards what is to come.

Where Skinner’s 2022 debut Voices of Bishara drew inspiration from Abdul Wadud’s 1978 cello masterpiece By Myself, Kaleidoscopic Visions shifts toward more personal, fully composed material — brought to life by the intuitive improvisations of both long-time bandmates and new high-profile collaborations. As writer Piotr Orlov reflects in his notes on the album, the result is a record that chronicles “the importance of considering the view from the middle of one’s own life, taking stock alongside memories and family, heroes and friends new and old.” As such, Kaleidoscopic Visions unfolds across two distinct sonic landscapes. Side A presents entirely instrumental compositions performed by Skinner's live Bishara band — bassist Tom Herbert, cellist Kareem Dayes, and Robert Stillman and Chelsea Carmichael on various woodwinds and reeds — with electric guitar on two tracks courtesy of Portishead's Adrian Utley. A drummer-composer bringing his wealth of experience to bear on the role of bandleader, Skinner composed primarily on guitar, embracing the freedom that came with writing on his secondary instrument.

These compositions include "Auster," dedicated to late novelist Paul Auster, and "Margaret Anne," which honors Skinner's mother Anne Shasby, a former classical concert pianist prodigy who abandoned her own promising career in the face of systemic misogyny, only to impart on her son what Skinner calls "the gift of music." Skinner’s musical world opens further on Side B, where a collection of poised vocal collaborations stretch out from jazz and improvisation towards a more dream-like, soulful sound. The centerpiece is "The Maxim," a ten-minute collaboration with Meshell Ndegeocello, a dubby, spacious meditation on life and death, delivered with a free-spirited grace. For Skinner, working with Ndegeocello — whom he first saw at Glastonbury as a teenager in 1994 — represents a full-circle moment, indicative of the indirect paths and inspirational detours that have shaped his life. 

The album goes on to feature South Carolina-based singer Contour (Khari Lucas) who appears on the low-lit soul ballad “Logue,” and closes with “See How They Run” featuring London keyboardist-vocalist Yaffra (Jonathan Geyevu). It is the album’s most overtly lyrical track, an articulate exposition of jazz-inflected spoken word that speaks not only to the genre-fluid nature of the music but the breadth of Skinner’s palette.