For those unaware, saxophonist and composer Andrew MacKelvie is a central figure in Halifax, Nova Scotia’s vibrant music community. A mentee and collaborator to late jazz legend, Jerry Granelli, he has appeared on the cover of Musicworks Magazine, won a number of awards, and collaborated with the likes of Angel Bat Dawid and Lido Pimienta.

His acclaimed previous group New Hermitage — many members of which appear on this forthcoming album — were praised by Peter Margasak in the Quietus on account of their preference for gentle articulation, each plucked, breathed, and bowed utterance hanging in space to collide and meld with one another in a delicious slow motion dance.

MacKelvie’s new venture Many Worlds (their debut LP/ digital release due out March 6th, 2026 from Watch That Ends The Night), emerges from less-than-ideal circumstances.

In 2012, while biking home from a gig, he stopped at a light and was struck by a drunk driver, sending him flying over his handlebars, leaving him with a broken back, a shattered knee, and several other broken bones. Luckily his saxophone case prevent him from hitting his head.

After recovering from the ensuing months of immobility, the incident — an eerie slow-motion brush with death — drastically reshaped his worldview, prompting him to envision the infinite possible outcomes of every moment and choice.

Yet, that’s not to say he’s stuck scrutinizing every decision, instead this multitude of potential realities came to feel liberating. The way this comes into play within his octet Many Worlds is perhaps unexpected given their psychedelia-tinged groove-laden experimentalism. Naturally, given the strong jazz dimension, they incorporate improvisation, but the compositions also include chance procedures.

1. Impact/Awake [02:05]
2. Disentomb the Brain Function [06:54]
3. Mirror Era [02:54]
4. Testament [05:10]
5. Time Dilation (ft. Aquakultre) [05:27]
6. Realities Blossom [07:43]
7. What Lies Just Beyond? [06:35]
8. Time Dilation (ft. Aquakultre) - Single Edit [04:51]

On a recording that perfectly showcases just what a fluidly organic, engagingly improvisational, and encouragingly avant-garde ensemble can do, they open on the dizzying array of opening mechanisms within Impact/Awake before we are brought forth the fervently sculpted Disentomb the Brain Function, the rhythmically active Mirror Era and then comes the spoken word melodies within Testament.

Up next is the spoken word musical delicacies of Time Dilation (ft. Aquakultre) and that is in turn backed seamlessly by the all-embracing, and definitively assonant, the hushed spoken word drifts within the tenderly smooth Realities Blossom, the set rounding out on the quietly emotive accident retelling within the dulcet What Lies Just Beyond?, coming to a close on the resonantly astute single edit of Time Dilation (ft. Aquakultre).

This all-star octet features its leader performing on alto & soprano saxophones alongside Andrew Jackson — trombone, Jackson Fairfax-Perry — tenor saxophone/ synthesizer, Tom Richards — trombone/ organ, Ellen Gibling — harp, Ross Burns — guitar, Gabriella Ciurcovich — bass, and Doug Cameron — drums.

They’re joined by vocalists Lance Sampson (aka Aquakultre), Meghan Gilhespy and Zoe Leger as well as MacKelvie’s co-producer (and partner in the Watch That Ends The Night imprint) Michael Cloud Duguay on circuit-bent melodica.

Embracing elements of free jazz, early fusion, folk, R&B, American minimalism, and various strains of out rock, their collective sound is convivial but curious, reflecting its members’ assortment of experience and interests.

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