Jon Neher is a musician and artist from Saskatchewan in Canada. He is also renowned for performing as part of Peace Flag Ensemble and indie band Beach Body, as well as work for his own label Fenwood Rail. Jon followed a Classical music education through piano lessons at an early age, progressing into playing Jazz as he got older before he began to explore his own compositions after he had discovered Hardcore music.
Michael Scott Dawson is an artist based in Vancouver, Canada, who was also originally from Saskatchewan. His music has been released on labels including We Are Busy Bodies, Sonder House, and also Jon’s Fenwood Rail imprint. Michael is part of the Peace Flag Ensemble, providing guitar, field recordings and subtle electronics to the sound. His Ambient albums ‘Music For Listening’ and ‘Find Yourself Lost’ have received critical acclaim, not least from Whitelabrecs and this was the starting point for the release of this album, after we got in touch with Michael to show our appreciation; announcing Music For Listening as our favourite record of 2022.
‘I Yield My Time’ is the third collaboration solely between Jon and Michael, who know each other through the music community in Saskatchewan. Their Ambient-leaning debut ‘On Remembering’ was released digitally through Fenwood Rail back in 2019. Their love of music and diverse range of influences inform their work and enable them to experiment with a wide range of ideas and genres. As can be gleaned from earlier in this text, they both perform as part of the Peace Flag Ensemble, a group whose album Astral Plains is due out in July 2023.

This album places Jon’s piano sketches at the fore, with his approach to music composition beginning with improvised sessions on his keyboard before being adapted through chance-based post production techniques. Michael took these piano sounds and processed them through an array of tape machines and pedals. Most of the additional resonances beyond the original piano recordings are actually just new versions of these. Minimal details subtly adorn the pieces, with Michael’s field recordings and modest additional instrumentation inserting frail little soft sounds into the weight and voice of the piano. There is something beautiful in this juxtaposition, as Michael found himself building little movements around the improvisations, like a tiny orchestra of broken sounds.
The album is more about the process and combination of the artists’ respective techniques, than being centred around a specific concept. However, Jon notes that he realised after completing the album that he was thinking a lot about death, with close family members being diagnosed with cancer, the failing health of his grandparents, music industry peers passing at an early age and a choir director who had lent him a Rhodes passed away. There was this weird reckoning with the idea that death can be so much and so little depending on your context, and there are drastic implications on how you might find meaning in your life as a result.
For the listener, time becomes a theme in which to concentrate ones thoughts; whether consciously or subconsciously, as the subduing echoes of delay pedals and fading keys disappear. This record will become a reflective companion, which may direct thoughts and feelings in several directions; whether this be to reflect upon the past, to be present in the moment, or wander into the future, full of hope.

Written and produced by Jon Neher & Michael Scott Dawson
Mastered by Taylor Deupree
Photography by Michael Scott Dawson
Art and design by Andrew Heath

I Yield My Time

wlr139 Jon Neher & Michael Scott Dawson - I Yield My Time

Tracklist

01. Arovane - Endett
02. Andrew Heath - Belonging
03. Solo Andata - Leaden Sky
04. Memory Scale - A Suivre
05. Thme - Nocens
06. Jon Neher & Michael Scott Dawson - Anther
07. Mi Cosa de Resistance & Ciro Berenguer - Los espejos
08. Andy Cartwright - Mended Environment
09. Francesco Covarino - Nido i
10. Miguel Otero - End of Summer by The Pier

338. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

SenSen - LeC II

Untitled (19/09/23)

pray2day

Note

2023-10-18

Quicksands

"Above The Aether (Alpha Remix)" is the third digital single from the forthcoming GALÁN / VOGT remix album, entitled "All The Time In The World" - out release Nov 23, 2023.
Mastered by Robert Babicz.
linktr.ee/galanvogt

Galán / Vogt - Above The Aether (Alpha Remix)

A tranquil meditation piece featuring ethereal high-frequency tones that shimmer like sunlight dancing on gentle ocean waves. The slow, deliberate 64 BPM tempo creates a deeply relaxing atmosphere perfect for mindfulness practice, while the predominant treble frequencies evoke the crystalline clarity of tropical waters and the whisper of trade winds through palm fronds. This serene soundscape transports listeners to a peaceful Hawaiian shore where healing energy flows as naturally as the tide.

Note

Christopher Hanlon