FLYING LOTUS – ASH original soundtrack (Milan DL) (2025)

A heads up for the latest project of Steven Ellison, the man behind Flying Lotus who is the grandnephew of Alice Coltrane. He signed for Warp Records in 2007, and “Los Angeles” (2008) resulted. Next, as part of Radiohead’s remix project, Ellison AKA Flying Lotus or FlyLo re-interpreted the track ‘Reckoner’ from their “In Rainbows” album.

Ellison’s career started to take off with the release of a conceptual album “Cosmogramma” (2010) on the theme of lucid dreaming in a style called Afrofuturistic, combining elements of hip-hop, nu jazz and soul, winning a best Dance/ Electronica Album award. Thom Yorke guested and Thundercat (Stephen Lee Bruner), played bass; there were also various samples including some harp from ‘Blue Nile" by Alice Coltrane. “Until the Quiet Comes” (2012), marked another change of direction, opening with a mini-suite of downtempo jazz that included harps; it reached #34 on both the U.K. and U.S. album charts. “You’re Dead” (2014) is how I discovered Ellison’s music; it was his magnum opus: ‘cosmic’ reflections on people he’d lost, a haunting collection including collaborations with Herbie Hancock (on ‘Tesla’), Kamasi Washington and Kendrick Lamar. On “Flamagra” (2019), a U.K. top 30 and U.S. top 50 album, Ellison continued his experimentations with IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) and jazz forms, with some psychedelia and funk. Ellison continued to show his penchant for the unusual by inviting film producer David Lynch of “Twin Peaks” fame to make a spoken word cameo appearance on ‘Fire is Coming’.

“Yasuke” (2021) was a score for a Netflix anime film and he directed a new sci-fi film ‘Ash’ in 2025, the subject of this review. Heavily synthesised, pensive and ethereal there are horror elements in the film demarcated by scraped and creaking cellos (on ‘Hole’), sub bass and laconic strings. The opening vignette is called ‘Oxygene’ (a tip of the hat to Jean Michel Jarre perhaps?); ‘Questionable Sandstorm’ uses a synthesised voice over waves of synth; latter parts carry threat with insectoid and industrial soundscapes to steady beats e.g. ‘Unusual Activity’, and it is, as you might expect very evocative; overall, a welcome addition to the Flying Lotus discography.

Flying Lotus is one of a number of jazz artists that Phil has done a précis of for the forthcoming “Great Rock Bible: New Testament” by discographer Martin C. Strong.