For those unaware, Washington DC-based flutist, vocalist and composer Alex Hamburger returns on her pictorial sophomore statement What If?, due out June 29th, 2023 via Unit Records.

The release of What If? follows Hamburger’s conceptual debut And She Spoke (2021), an homage to the ferocity of trailblazing female creatives stretching from Maya Angelou to Terri Lyne Carrington to Hamburger’s own activist-poet grandmother.

The highly-orchestrated, textural paths exhibited on And She Spoke became a sketch of Hamburger’s sensitivity to human experience and propensity for transforming feeling into sound.

What If? continues this deed in the sublime and empirical fashion that its title suggests — across nine original compositions, Hamburger reminds us that such hypothetical questions entertain possibility and ignite our imaginations.

1. Ladybug
2. Lion’s Den
3. Surface Unknown
4. Molinos de Viento: Meditation on the Wind
5. Molinos de Viento: The Journey
6. November 3rd
7. Plastic Stars (Intro)
8. Plastic Stars
9. Gone Too Soon (For Lowell and Aaron)

This stunningly colorful, vibrant and yet cultured new recording opens on the shimmering, avant garde-hued Ladybug and the luxuriantly contemplative Lion’s Den and then proceeds to lovingly bring forth the veritably spacial, gleaming Surface Unknown and the interestingly invisioned duo of Molinos de Viento: Meditation on the Wind and Molinos de Viento: The Journey.

Along next is the sweepingly ornate November 3rd which is in turn backed seamlessly by a short intro to the then much longer version of her most glorious, near-nine minute work of free flowing music art Plastic Stars, the album closing all-too-soon on the folk-pop-jazz track Gone Too Soon (For Lowell and Aaron).

Across nine original compositions, Hamburger is joined by her routine roster, including album producer José Luiz Martins, who is also heard here on keys, synths and piano, Tyrone Allen II on electric, acoustic and synth bass, Chase Elodia on drums and Patrick Graney on percussion. Special guest Andrew Bailie joins the track “Gone Too Soon (For Lowell and Aaron)” on guitar and bass.

Official Bandcamp Purchase Link

www.alexhamburger.com