The soundtrack of midlife crisis approaching. One blessed week in 2021, another one in 2022.

...started the project to process a breakup while the pandemic unfolds, attempted to spare the people left in my life from seeing me cracking up. Music will get me through this. It just flows, one just needs to try.

Found a theme, and a new instrument. Codename Sub-Zero.
Learned to control distortion. Learned to play back sample grains with my brain.

The personalities behind the vision of these amazing things infiltrated the music. Marc, Marco, Robert, Dylan. I am so fucking lucky..

…

Words started to bubble up to the surface. I have a subject now - I feel something. Found the 17-years old in me. Hurt, therefore alive. I had something to say for once, but no voice, no singer, no band yet.

Forged my singer using Melodyne - the intention was to make google’s speech synthesizer sound as close to Kim Gordon as I could.. ended up sounding like Dolores O’Riordan at times.

Pitched down the imaginary girlfriend a few semitones, to “impersonate” their counterpart.

Experienced the most intense joy, repeatedly, when the voices glued with the music and helped unfold a story which I still have not fully deciphered myself.

Aimed to wrap up songs in a single day. I would wake up the next day with just a faint recollection of it all, and experience my own music as if someone else did it.

Saw Stewart’s expression when I played the first track. “Play it again”. Saw Vincenzo’s expression and thought I made someone feel something. Winter came, more life shit happened..

…

One year later. Picked up the project as if it could help me to process the loss of my dad. The pandemic still lurking in the background.. ..while watching over these two wonderful human beings while going through the ropes of late childhood and becoming fully aware and independent entities. Gave up the spot as their hero, so they can start to become their own.

Springtime came back. Found the same freedom, the same voice, the same suspended bittersweet happiness. The same overambitious lack of ambition. The joy came back. The reconciliation.

Months passed. I kept luring my close friends to my ugly bachelor pad to listen to this, still no sharing over the internet. Somehow helped the music get better, without me touching it.

Stewart offered to master it and made it shine.

Andrea traveled through Bavaria with me as we try to listen what makes it through the dither of our car's engine.

Manuel reminded me that you should care about every detail.

It’s time to share the sound of a middle aged guy tiptoeing over the thin line between emotion and cringe..

In Other News

Buy the vinyl on our online shop:
https://invisiblecityeditions.com/products/oluko-imo-praise-jah-ice-012

Also available on Bandcamp:
https://invisible-city-editions.bandcamp.com/album/praise-jah

Oluko Imo was a Trinidadian born multi-instrumentalist, founder of the legendary spiritual afro jazz groups Mansa Musa and the Black Truth Rhythm Band. He moved to New York City in the 80s and divided his time between teaching music there and touring Africa with Fela Kuti as both his manager and part of the band. 

Praise Jah is Imo’s crowning achievement. An elevated electronic mantra that perfectly fuses synthy soca disco with his spiritual afro-Trinidadian leanings. It’s a timeless piece of music that sounds as visionary today as it did when it emerged from the aether back in 1979.

Limited pressing with embossed sleeve, designed by Zeitype.

©℗ Invisible City Editions
ICE 012

European distribution by Rush Hour
For North American distribution inquiries please contact us direct: info@invisiblecityeditions.com

Oluko Imo - Praise Jah (ICE 012)

A - Conero
The memory of longing for the sea, walking down a steep and stoney path from uphill down to the shore.

B - Exis
At night we preferred to stare from above. While the sun disappeared at our backs behind the mountains the sky finally melted and become one with the water.

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