Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden is the tenth solo studio album by American jazz saxophonist Matana Roberts. The album was released on September 29, 2023, by Constellation Records, and is the fifth in Roberts' ongoing Coin Coin album series. The album's narrative centers an ancestor of Roberts who died from an illegal abortion.
The album was recorded in Brooklyn, New York, and mixed and mastered in Montreal. It was produced by Kyp Malone, and featured a lineup including Malone, Mike Pride, Matt Lavelle, Stuart Bogie, and Darius Jones. It covers a variety of genres, including folk, post-rock, and multiple subgenres of jazz. The album was received positively by critics who praised its ambition and breadth of style.
Release
Roberts first announced the album on June 14, 2023, for a September 29 release date by Constellation Records, and released the first three songs, "We Said", "Different Rings", and "Unbeknownst", as a suite.[1] With the announcement, Roberts also released an essay in which they wrote:
There is something quite rancid going on in America right now, more so than any time I have seen... a growing cohort of ghoul-like humans who seem to think that your body does not belong to you. We have seen some of this before, we knew it was wrong, and we eradicated some of the issues. It wasn't perfect how we did it, but we did it. And yet, like a never-ending train wreck, here we are again. The lack of access to safe and legal abortion services disproportionately affects marginalized and low-income communities, who often lack the resources and support to obtain safe reproductive health care. Reproductive healthcare includes abortion...[1]
This over-focus and policing of ovaried bodies are getting in the way of the number one killer of American children today: firearms. This bounce around being dangerously shouted from conservative rooftops about trans bodies is just an extension of this reproductive rights fight.[1]
Style and themes
In the Garden centers a story of an ancestor of Roberts who died during an illegal abortion.[2][3][4] The narrative is more explicit than in past albums in the series, and is described as a character study.[3]
A lyrical refrain, "My name is your name/Our name is their name/And we are named/We remember/They forget", is introduced in "Unbeknownst" and repeated throughout the album.[2][4]
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 from 6 critic scores.[5]AllMusic's Thom Jurek said the album's "collision of styles, genres, and individual and group voices are not only welcome, but essential to the process of Roberts engendering dialogue, celebrating difference, and communicating emotions, psychologies, and cultures, all testifying to the import and cultural and artistic achievement of [their] evolving project."[2]The Skinny's Joe Creely said the album's "pieces as a whole feel fuller, and more ambitious than anything Roberts has done to date", and that it "marks another stunning development in a series that remains essential listening."[3]
Year-end lists
Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden on year-end lists
