Just a year has passed since Sons of Ra released the six-part instrumental suite Tropic of Cancer, but the long-running local trio have already returned with a new full-length, Standard Deviation. Sons of Ra impose few limitations on their music: They might try on any number of heavy and intense sounds, including prog, math rock, avant-garde metal, funk, and free jazz, depending on where the mood takes them. Even so, when it came time to write Standard Deviation, guitarist Erik Oldman Vecchione, bassist and saxophonist Keith Wakefield, and drummer Michael Rataj wanted a new approach. They decided to step away from overt metal influences and lean into collaborative songwriting, drawing on their journey as a band and the diverse personal interests and curiosities they’ve developed over the years. Standard Deviation mixes original compositions with interpretations of tunes made famous by the likes of John Coltrane, Don Ellis, and Carla Bley, and if there’s a dull moment, I must have missed it. “Disintegration (Alabama Revisited)” sets the stage, with layers of horns and guitar and propulsive rhythms that journey through wistfulness, fury, and joy. The band’s take on Ellis’s swinging 1966 piece “Upstart” (written in 11/8 time) could soundtrack an outer-space film noir: A 1940s private eye flits off into the cosmos (accompanied by a guest solo from flutist Isaiah Sanderman) to unravel an intrigue that builds to a jaw-dropping intergalactic shoot-out (punctuated by Rataj’s fiery drumming). Sons of Ra take a more traditional approach to “Nature Boy,” taking Coltrane’s version as a starting point and creating a lush reading that ends with joyous sax and ferociously metallic guitar. They also revisit some of their own material, offering a triumphant reworking of “Intrepidation,” which originally appeared on 2016’s Anthropology. This show is a release party for Standard Deviation.
Sons of Ra Wave Cage and Puke in the Icetray open. Sat 4/12, 8 PM, Reggies Music Joint, 2105 S. State, $15, 21+