Kalia Vandever // Mana

Kalia Vandever has steadily expanded the expressive possibilities of the trombone, but Mana feels like the moment where every thread of that evolution converges. Their debut for Chicago's International Anthem finds the composer, trombonist, and vocalist trading jazz convention for something far more intimate, building a spacious sonic landscape from solo trombone, spare piano, softly manipulated electronics, and quietly revelatory songwriting. Drawing inspiration from Hawaiian ancestry and the concept of mana as a source of spiritual power, Vandever crafts an album that feels suspended between memory and meditation, where every sustained note carries emotional weight beyond its pitch. The opening "Hubbard Road" introduces the record's patient vocabulary as reverberant brass rises over repeating piano figures, while "Murmuray" transforms processed trombone into an ambient fog that recalls both early morning stillness and late-night solitude. The centerpiece, "Waiting," gradually blossoms from dense electroacoustic textures into one of Vandever's most vulnerable vocal performances, revealing how naturally their lyrics now inhabit these expansive instrumental worlds. That newfound confidence stems in part from years spent performing beyond the jazz circuit, embracing audiences more interested in emotional honesty than stylistic boundaries, and the record benefits enormously from that freedom. Even at its most abstract, Mana never drifts into mere atmosphere. Every drone, harmonic swell, and electronic shimmer serves the songs themselves, grounding experimentation in melody and feeling. The closing "Holding" distills the album's emotional core into a deceptively simple meditation on release, pairing luminous suspended harmonies with lyrics that linger long after the final note fades. It's ambient jazz with a beating heart, and one of the most quietly captivating releases yet from International Anthem's remarkable 2026 catalog.