Ostara Project: Roots
Each artist brings at least one piece to the table, and she embeds each piece with something of herself or her culture
Roots is the Ostara Project's second studio album. At the bottom of its cover, the six recorded musicians' names line up just so: the de facto co-leaders Jodi Proznick on bass and Amanda Tosoff on piano, then fellow founding members Allison Au on saxophone and Rachel Therrien on trumpet, and finally the newer members, vocalist Shruti Ramani and drummer Valérie Lacombe.
I've traced Ostara's whole history, from their first-ever show to their debut album to having several members on the podcast. By coincidence, I've already written about all but one of this album's pieces, thanks to a concert last year:
Will Chernoff
The album's theme, as I wrote then, is the members' personal stories. Each artist brings at least one piece to the table, and she embeds each piece with something of herself or her culture: hence the title Roots. The album can seem like a sprawling assortment of ideas if you listen without knowing that. However, awareness of the theme will make you dig the breadth of material that Ostara presents in just 34 minutes. The whole set finds them in great form as you would hear the band at any arts centre.
The one piece I didn't hear live last year is the short "Voyage sans retour" by Therrien, in the vein of her album CAPI with its poetry from her grandfather. It's improvisational, which makes it a big break from the straight-ahead debut album. "Oh!" Therrien's narrative voice exclaims as the rhythm section lands on a thunderclap.
The only vocalist of the four from that concert who ended up on this album is Ramani. (The others may yet come on the next Ostara album, Wings.) She doesn't sing any lyrics: wordless vocals and Indian solfège only, keeping the focus on the overall ensemble. Her piece "Rajalakhsmi" has up-front composed material and a waterfall of a riff that launches some improvs. It's a playful invitation from Ramani to this larger group, a spinoff composition from her (and Proznick's) band Raagaverse,
My favourite track is Proznick's contribution, the instrumental arrangement of "What a Moonlit Night". After the quintet delivers a whole meal from waltz to swing, they suddenly serve up an outro vamp noir in three-two time, with Therrien flying over the band and Au adding nice backgrounds. The rhythms of Tosoff's crystal-clear piano both here and in the shots of Lacombe's tune, "Raven Haven", are like a theme cue 2.0 for the band, succeeding the happy groove of "Delta Sky" from their debut.
Ostara is the main avenue to hear Tosoff play piano today, at least for those of us around the country. This wasn't the case over the past decade-plus, which saw her release several albums as a leader. Her piece here, "Dreams and Olive Trees" features Ramani's wordless vocals in a loping but dramatic setting. Her catalogue doesn't quite have a perfect match for the tune: perhaps a more turned-up "Little Bird", the closing track from Words, recorded 2015.
The same isn't true for Proznick, mostly because we hear her locally but also because of her work with Raagaverse and the Noah Franche-Nolan Trio on tour, among others. She opens Au's heavy, dark, but serene piece "2601" with a bass solo over keyboard and drums. On Therrien's piece "Papa", she dances with the trumpeter for a minute of intro then also takes a poised solo with lovely tone.
The current Ostara crew have an active five-year streak of Juno nominations: Ramani with Raagaverse's Jaya just last month, Au with Migrations last year, the band itself at the 2023 awards, Tosoff's Earth Voices – one of the outstanding Canadian creative albums of the century so far as well as a clear harbinger of Ostara – at the 2022, and Therrien's Vena at the 2021. I see no impediments between this record and making it six in a row. With a big concert in Toronto next month and another album still to follow, the band has raised the bar on its sophomore release and continues to be one of the national scene's most ambitious and rewarding acts.
released April 11, 2025 | Buy CD | Available on streaming
