“Vespertine Wanderings” opens a new chapter for Atlas Maior, the Austin quartet whose dialogue between Middle Eastern, North African, and American jazz forms has defined their work for over a decade. Released as the first single from their forthcoming album Palindromlar — out 10 October on Dead Red Queen Records — the piece reflects the group’s Morocco tour and its commitment to live improvisation as composition.

Formed by Joshua Thomson (alto saxophone, flutes), Josh Peters (oud, lutar), Josh Flowers (upright bass), and Gray Parsons (drums), Atlas Maior built “Vespertine Wanderings” from a late-night walk through Marrakech’s outskirts. The music mirrors that encounter: oud and saxophone trace narrow, shadowed phrases before bass and percussion enter with slow precision. Each part arrives in measured sequence, the sound breathing through pauses that define the shape of the performance.

The track joins modal improvisation to quiet formality, pairing maqam-based melody with jazz phrasing and rhythmic looseness. Its motion recalls Atlas Maior’s work with Gnawa musicians Maalem Abdelmalek Kadir and Azouz Soudani during their Moroccan residency, where ensemble timing and collective phrasing drove the exchange.

Palindromlar extends the framework of the group’s 2014 album Palindrome, gathering ten improvised pieces recorded at Planet Pleasant Studio in Austin with engineer Gary Calhoun James. Produced by Thomson and Peters, the album was shaped through structured frameworks and card-based prompts, each performance recorded in full take.

You can stream, listen to and get your copy of Palindromlar HERE