Kingdoms Essentials

On October, 20, 2017, analog Electronica / Shoegaze duo Aris Kindt will release their second album, Swann and Odette on Francis Harris’ new imprint Kingdoms.
While this record seamlessly picks up where their first record (2015’s Flood) leaves off, the sonic palette is dee- per, the grooves more sparse and the melodic content allowed more room to seep deep within a mix so trans- parent as to feel nonexistent. This is heady, opulent stuff, immaculately produced and cunningly arranged ways that sidesteps easy classification without sacrificing ac- cessibility and authentic feeling.
Aris Kindt is the collaborative project of guitarist Gabe Hedrick and Francis Harris (Scissor and Thread). Harris has previously released the Albums Leland (2012) and Minutes of Sleep (2014), both of which have been sited “for (their) extensive use of live instruments, a contrasting feature to his work done before” (last.fm, 2016). To this formula Hedrick adds his own sonic signature in ana- log-effects laden electric guitar. Collectively the album swells and hums to create a seamless interplay of ana- log synths and otherwordly musical notations cast loose from their origins.

Swann and Odette

Aris Kindt - Several Wolves (Kingdoms 001)

https://www.facebook.com/freekindt
https://www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk


Aris Kindt Swann and Odette 

On October, 20, 2017, ambient shoegaze duo Aris Kindt launch the new Kingdoms imprint with their second album, Swann and Odette.

Picking up where their first record (2015’s Floods) leaves off, Swann and Odette is an evolutionary leap forward for the duo. The sonic palette is deeper, the grooves more sparse and the melodies are given more room to seep deep within a mix so expansive it feels almost tactile.
This is heady, opulent stuff. The album is immaculately produced and cunningly arranged to sidestep easy classification while not sacrificing accessibility and authentic feeling.

Aris Kindt is the collaborative project of Gabe Hedrick and Francis Harris (Scissor and Thread). Harris has previously released the albums Leland (2012) and Minutes of Sleep (2014), both of which have been lauded “for (their) extensive use of live instruments, a contrasting feature to his work done before” (last.fm, 2016). Building on this approach, Hedrick adds his own sonic signature in effects-laden layers of electric guitar and modular synthesizer. Collectively, the album swells and reverberates to create a seamless interplay of synths and instrumentation cast loose from their origins and awash in oceanic delay.

Swann and Odette inaugurates Kingdoms, an eclectic new platform for adventurous music ranging from new voices in club-inflected jazz, contemporary composition, ambient, and electronic music to reissues of little-known obscurities from across the musical spectrum. Helmed by veteran producer and musical polyglot Francis Harris, Kingdoms builds upon his decades spent pushing against the boundaries of electronic music as a producer and performer.

Swann and Odette will be available on vinyl and digital from October 20, 2017.

A1. Swann and Odette
A2. New Gods of Prudence A3. Several Wolves
B1. Taking 33
B2. Seagraves
B3. A Second Type of Problem 
B4. Treatise
B5. Still Undivided

Both formats come with 2 digital bonus tracks: 
09. Hewett Fails to Understand
10. Motion Rest

Aris Kindt - Swann And Odette

https://www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk/

Brandon Wolcott & Emil Abramyan 
Music of The Record 

Following on from Aris Kindt's second album "Swann and Odette" here follows the second release on Francis Harris new label Kingdoms.

Apart from their own works composers, musicians and producers Brandon Wolcott (@smirk) and Emil Abramyan (@emil-abramyan) already had a joint release with YouAndTheSpace Between, the opener on the Don't Break My Love release on Nicolas Jaar's Clown & Sunset label in 2012. In the same year the two have approached by theater artists Michael Silverstone and Abigail Browde of 600 Highwaymen to compose music for a new work of live performance called The Record.

Aside from a simple series of prompts and directions, the music was composed independently of the choreography. Drawing from backgrounds in theatrical sound design, classical composition and experimental electronic music, Brandon Wolcott and Emil Abramyan sought to create a diverse tapestry of sound, striving for a dynamic emotional arc that might elude a sense of genre or recognizable form. The music is performed live, with Emil on cello and structured into six songs on the Mini-LP Music of The Record to be released at the end of November 2017.

Brandon Wolcott is a Brooklyn based sound artist, composer and theatrical sound designer. His work has been heard at venues including The Pubic Theater, Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Mass Moca, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Centre Pompidou. He has released music with Wolf + Lamb Music, Archipel Records and Nicolas Jaar’s Other People. His dance-music project Smirk, has been presented at venues and festivals around the world, including Communiky, Mutek, Save, Dispatch, and UnSound. As a sound designer/ composer, Brandon has collaborated on a diverse array of projects, including work in dance, theater, installation and film.

Collaborations include 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Marina Abramovic, Laurie Anderson, Taylor Mac, Faye Driscoll, Geoff Sobelle, Kevin Newbury, and many more. Recently, Brandon create a co-composition (with Emil Abramyan) of the score for The Fever, also by 600 Highwaymen, which premiered in New York in January, 2017 and is currently touring throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Emil Abramyan is a New York based cellist and composer. After receiving his B.A. in cello performance from Manhattan School of Music, he began teaching and freelancing in Los Angeles and New York. An evolving appreciation for electronic music drove him to explore other forms and textures of sound, ultimately leading him to produce and compose for himself. His most recent project focused on the co-composition (with Brandon Wolcott) of the score for The Fever by 600 Highwaymen, which premiered in New York in January, 2017 and is currently touring throughout the U.S. and Europe. Previous highlights include the release of his own music on Nicolas Jaar's Other People label; recording and performance with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Radio City Music Hall; collaboration with Francis Harris on his albums Leland and Minutes of Sleep; and upcoming collaborative and solo releases on the label Kingdoms.

kds002
24 Nov 2017
A1. Old Beginnings 
A2. The Other Place 
A3. Ritual
B1. Pedestrian Jazz 
B2. Plasticity
B3. (re)Turn

Brandon Wolcott & Emil Abramyan - The Other Place

Brandon Wolcott & Emil Abramyan - Old Beginnings

https://www.facebook.com/leahlazonickmusic/
https://www.facebook.com/PetreInspirescu/
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk/

Léah Lazonick - Movimenti della Luna D'Oro 

Next up on Francis Harris's newly-founded record label Kingdoms comes something very special from Brooklyn-based film composer, songwriter, producer and performer Léah Lazonick.

Movimenti della Luna D'Oro (‘Movements of the Moon of Gold’ translated from Italian) is a four-track EP from one of the most exciting musicians and performers around - a beautiful quartet of contemporary classical music with a twist.

Lazonick is something of a polymath, having composed and conducted orchestral and electronic scores for short films and commercials as well as being a classically-trained pianist. She already performed on black light smoke's 'Morning Comes' and Glory Club's 'Trigger Me Out', both released on Scissor And Thread.

Lazonick is also a connoisseur of analog synths and vintage drum machines, and will release a second EP focussing on these passions during the course of 2018. Here we are treated to three luscious works for piano and string quartet, written for a one-off performance at Studio OFF Interarts, an art gallery in Montreal. The piece was performed in a forest-like immersive environment, and was originally called In a Forest (A Piece in Three Movements). Lazonick performed the piano parts along with a string quartet she had assembled for the performance/ recording.

Lazonick explains:
“As opposed to most of the other songs/compositions I have written, I have no concrete sentimental story behind writing this piece. The motivation, inspiration and overall idea behind composing it was of a more technical nature; attempting to relay the music in my head at its purest form, without any compromises, by primarily making use of melodic and harmonic dissonances whilst still keeping the content captivating, musical and continuous.”

The EP is rounded off with a remix track by the much-lauded Petre Inspirescu - the Romanian producer who has credibly and respectfully managed to balance his passions for house and classical music. This deep and evolving remix gives a glimpse into the breadth of creativity this artist represents, and suggests that Lazonick’s career will be anything other than predictable. Very much a record to sink into, and a name to keep an eye on over the coming months.

kds003
16 Feb 2018

A1. Movimento I Luna Scura
A2. Movimento II Mezza Luna
A3. Movimento III Luna Piena
B1. Movimenti della Luna D'Oro (Petre Inspirescu Remix)

Léah Lazonick - Movimenti della Luna D'Oro (Petre Inspirescu Remix)

Léah Lazonick - Movimento I Luna Scura

taken from the upcoming album "Exile And The New" - out 27th of April, 2018 // https://Kingdoms.lnk.to/Exile

https://soundcloud.com/kingdomsbk/sets/adamo-golan-exile-and-the-new

www.facebook.com/x.adamogolan
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full album info:

Adamo Golán - Exile And The New

Fresh on Francis Harris’ Kingdoms imprint comes Adamo Golán’s seven track LP, 'Exile And The New'. Golán is the alter ego of German artist Laurens A. Schmidt, who has been pursuing a more club-focused techno project, while developing an ever deeper fascination with experimental music, ambient and film scores. Drawing influence from his adopted homes Berlin and currently London, the 26-year-old has been uncompromisingly trying to develop his own musical voice.

'Exile And The New' expresses this ongoing pursuit and, being the  rst full-length and first ever release by Adamo Golán, marks the start of his most personal project to-date. Stretching over seven tracks, it touches upon a diverse set of sceneries, moods, and emotions whilst a distinctive sound design gives the work a subtle framework and guiding thread.

'Fis' starts the proceedings, introducing drones and field recordings and enveloping the listener in Golán’s distinct sound world. 'Just Friends' merges distant snapshots of disembodied vocals with granular sound design and a sense of both space and creeping claustrophobia simultaneously. It’s an approach the young producer has mastered - 'Replica' maintains an ambience of the deeply personal and a wider, hazy focus, realised via exquisite melodic fragments against a backdrop of pads and chiming electronics. Title track 'Exile And The New' unfolds around another cinematic world scored via a single stringed instrument, static interference and oceans of space. 'Lie to Me' brings a piano refrain to the fore, wrapped in luscious ambience and more fragments of a conversation heard through the rain. 'Then Rely On Me' slowly develops out of a haunting atmosphere and finds an uneasy but strangely beautiful flow, before 'The Hungry Years' closes out the album as it started - floating in space.

The 26-year-old artist sees the album as a journey that should captivate but never impose itself on the listener. It ́s a gracious and neighborly invitation to dive in, get lost and explore its facets and peculiarities.

kds004
April 27th, 2018

A1. Fis
A2. Just Friends
A3. Replica
B1. Exile And The New B2. Lie To Me
B3. ... Then Rely On Me B4. The Hungry Years

Exile And The New

Adamo Golán - Lie To Me

https://www.facebook.com/x.adamogolan
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk/


Adamo Golán - Exile And The New 

Fresh on Francis Harris’ Kingdoms imprint comes Adamo Golán’s  (@adamogolan) seven track LP, 'Exile And The New'. Golán is the alter ego of German artist Laurens A. Schmidt, who has been pursuing a more club-focused techno project, while developing an ever deeper fascination with experimental music, ambient and  film scores. Drawing influence from his adopted homes Berlin and currently London, the 26-year-old has been uncompromisingly trying to develop his own musical voice.

'Exile And The New' expresses this ongoing pursuit and, being the first full-length and first ever release by Adamo Golán, marks the start of his most personal project to-date. Stretching over seven tracks, it touches upon a diverse set of sceneries, moods, and emotions whilst a distinctive sound design gives the work a subtle framework and guiding thread.

'Fis' starts the proceedings, introducing drones and field recordings and enveloping the listener in Golán’s distinct sound world. 'Just Friends' merges distant snapshots of disembodied vocals with granular sound design and a sense of both space and creeping claustrophobia simultaneously. It’s an approach the young producer has mastered - 'Replica' maintains
an ambience of the deeply personal and a wider, hazy focus, realised via exquisite melodic fragments against a backdrop of pads and chiming electronics. Title track 'Exile And The New' unfolds around another cinematic
world scored via a single stringed instrument, static interference and oceans of space. 'Lie to Me' brings a piano refrain to the fore, wrapped in luscious ambience and more fragments of a conversation heard through the rain. 'Then Rely On Me' slowly develops out of a haunting atmosphere and finds an uneasy but strangely beautiful flow, before 'The Hungry Years' closes out the album as it started - floating in space.

The 26-year-old artist sees the album as a journey that should captivate but never impose itself on the listener. It ́s a gracious and neighborly invitation to dive in, get lost and explore its facets and peculiarities.

kds004
April 27th, 2018
A1. Fis
A2. Just Friends
A3. Replica
B1. Exile And The New 
B2. Lie To Me
B3. ... Then Rely On Me 
B4. The Hungry Years
Digital Bonus:

Adamo Golán - Fis

https://www.facebook.com/rasmusjunckermusik/
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk

Fresh on Francis Harris’ Kingdoms imprint comes Rasmus Juncker’s 'Ophold' - six tracks of sublime atmospheres and textures. The Danish musician, sound composer and DJ fits perfectly with the label's aesthetic, joining the dots between ambient, leftfield electronica and modern classical. 

Juncker has a background in studying jazz drumming and has been playing improvised music within the jazz domain for many years. He also started to DJ at the age of 14 and was introduced to the world of electronic music production at the same time. Besides being an in-demand musician, his current work spans from sounddesign for performing arts to sound installations and music engineering.

When Rasmus started to think about his debut album he spent several months trying to find his own way to combine his favourite musical influences, improvisation, electronics and classical music. ““Almost a year later”, Juncker says, "I went to a sensory deprivation floating tank in Copenhagen and while I was lying there, floating in the water, deprived from most of my senses, I got the idea to do something really drastic in my musical process. Philosophers like Immanuel Kant describe this deprived state as a mental 'Cesura', which became some sort of guideline for the album."

So Juncker decided to start working on the album by leaving the process as well as the final result completely open. “I wanted to create sounds and music that I had no idea what they would sound like, but would feel like a mental 'Cesura', an ‘Ophold’ (in Danish)” he states.

He invited musicians, one after the other, to his studio. "I had an electronic musician to improvise patterns and new interesting sounds based on my experience in the deprivation tank. I chose some of the takes and some weeks later I invited a jazz guitarist to listen and improvise on top of what he heard. Then a classical string quartet and a double bass player came to my studio months later, and finally I recorded myself on percussion, drums and synthesizers.

"I've been experimenting a lot throughout the recording process. I explored how special microphones could be put at different places in the room to expand and colour the sound in new interesting ways. I used multiple microphones on the same sound sources and manipulated them into completely new sounds. I used noises from the recordings as a compositional tool and the room became absolutely essential for the creating of pieces." Juncker states.

"The material I used was all first take improvision which I arranged, layered and edited into compositions. The final pieces were mixed by Andreas Pallisgaard with the same improvised and experimental approach of the recording and the production. None of the musician met each other, but their sounds developed into something completely fantastic. The presence of the acoustic instruments and the depth and complexity of the synthesized layers gave some kind of an indescribable sounding music from another galaxy.

kds005
June 1st, 2018
A1. Norddrum
A2. Sora
A3. Eksotisk Tirsdag B1. Cyklus
B2. Havekunst
B3. Cesura

Violin by Bettina Marie Mirai Ezaki and Cæcilie Balling. 
Viola by Mika Svensson Persdotter.
Cello by Nicole Hogstrand.
Synthesizers by Sebastian Garst Kropp.
Guitar by Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh.
Double bass by Vincent Ruiz.
Drums, percussion and synthesizers by Rasmus Juncker. Mixed by Andreas Pallisgaard.

Rasmus Juncker - Sora

Rasmus Juncker - Norddrum

www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk
www.facebook.com/francisscissor

Emil Abramyan - Movement

Building on the already incredible collection of music so far released on Francis Harris' (@cfrancisharris) Kingdoms imprint, Emil Abramyan (@emil-abramyan) returns with the stunning 'Movement' album.

Abramyan is a Brooklyn based composer, musician, and producer, whose work traverses various styles and disciplines.

In this release Emil shares his unique perspective by bringing together his conservatory training as a cellist and his love of electronic music and sound design. Having played the cello on every Francis Harris album, Abramyan now expands his repertoire by playing every instrument, including cello, piano, and electronics.

Beginning with 'Flightplan', the album lifts off in sublime fashion. Brooding cellos combine with pianos before subtle rhythms unfold and introduce themselves.

'Winter’s' skittering rhythm is combined with pizzicato melodies, clicks and modular synth flurries. Showcasing his versatility, 'Foolky' is a more dance floor oriented cut - a highly percussive groove unfolds and carries along a variety of instrumentation. 4_24 also makes use of shuffling, percussive grooves layered with drone sounds, and more of Abramyan’s signature cello.

'Fever' sees the brooklynite heading in a more obviously ambient direction, building atmosphere with a mixture of close mic’d experimentation, and beautiful choral fragments.

Rounding off this release, label boss Francis Harris reworks 'Flightplan', finding new nuances in the sublime atmosphere, and slowly building up to a subtle, understated groove that takes the track to a different place entirely.

kds006
September 7th, 2018
A1. Flightplan
A2. Winter
A3. Foolky
B1. 4_24
B2. Fever
B3. Flightplan (Francis Harris Reform)

Emil Abramyan - Winter

Emil Abramyan - Flightplan

https://www.facebook.com/derivehelsinki/
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk

Hannu Karjalainen - Drift 

Kingdoms welcomes Finnish composer, producer, visual artist and filmmaker Hannu Karjalainen (@hannukarjalainen). His recording career now spans over a decade, beginning under the pseudonym Hannu and later under his full name for 'A Handful Of Dust Is A Desert' on Karaoke Kalk.

Now, this seven track mini album on Francis Harris’ Kingdoms sees Karjalainen continue his explorations in new directions - touching on field recordings, soundscapes and esoteric instrumentation to build a truly meditative and moving record.

'Drift' begins with 'Sermon to the Birds', featuring beautiful plucked strings and ambient atmospheres, before 'Carnivorous Flower' casts us into enormous otherworldly dronescapes.

'Untitled #34' brings about a beat of sorts, but deeply deconstructed to a crawl, allowing acres of space between the hits and sub bass pulses. 'Sunless' is, conversely, a ray of light - bright, weightless pads provide the feeling of being completely cut adrift. Segueing into 'Nightfall', the tones become a little duskier and more intense, building throughout the track.

'That Obscure Object' is another trip into the space, as white noise and fragments of melody intersect. The album ends with 'The Nile' - a treated piano plays a haunting melodic sequence, seemingly suspended in air. It’s a beautiful, emotional conclusion to an album that encourages the listener to take the time to experience its many pleasures.

kds007 November,16th, 2018 Vinyl & digital
A1. Sermon To The Birds 
A2. Carnivorous Flower 
A3. Untitled #34
B1. Sunless
B2. Nightfall
B3. That Obscure Object 
B4. The Nile

Hannu Karjalainen - Carnivorous Flower

Hannu Karjalainen - Sermon To The Birds

@sophiasaze
www.facebook.com/sophiasaze
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk

"The record embodies my story of duality within the context of identity, insomuch as the idea that every person has a deeper layer we don't show on the surface."

We all know that words are not often able to articulate the deepest feelings buried somewhere in our minds. Sophia Saze the DJ and producer from Tbilisi, Georgia has a lot of those emotions about which she composed a sonic book as her debut album on Kingdoms. 'Self Part 1' is the first segment of the album.

Living in Brooklyn, New York, she chose a home to settle after a lot of moving around. As her parents were political refugees, her life has always been riddled by new places of living, which made it hard for her to define her own identity. Musically, those struggles are manifested in the various musical influences that shaped her special style and thus Self Part 1. Coming from a classical musical education, she soon got entangled with electronic dance music where she rapidly made it up to a thoroughly self-assured name on the scene. Just 1,5 years ago she released her kickstarting EP Solace on Dusk & Haze, her own label she established at he same instant. With remixes by Umwelt and Benjamin Demage the EP thrilled the international dance music press around Groove-Magazin, Dj Mag and Mix Mag, along airplay on BBC Radio 1 and NTS Radio. Also her track 'Fall' appearing on Get Physical's Words Don't Come Easy Compilation left some serious impressions.

Renouncing from this rather dancefloor orientated matters, she now managed to create an Ambient-kind of album, yet defying any categorization. For 'Self Part 1' she paused: took a deep breath and looked inside her mind and soul. Then she transferred the bundled emotions into these fourteen tracks, mainly within a sleepless 48-hours studio session. Processing raw field recordings and samples that relate to her childhood, such as from soviet cartoons and VHS recordings from her family make a well seasoned and personal storytelling. The tracks itself are short but on point, considering the whole piece as a concept album that needs to be listened at once all the more, or as Saze points it out:
"I feel that the element of patience is somewhat of a lost commodity in our generation, I wanted to reiterate the idea that if you don't have the willingness to sit through the whole thing, then you're not really stepping into listening to it with the right mindset to begin with."
The sounds in 'Self Part 1' paint pictures of underwater worlds with a density of noises and soundscapes that consist of all manners of samples and distinct crackles from her machines. Nothing is still, liquid like raindrops falling from cloudy skies the tracks cover the listeners souls. Slight edges of beats are sometimes shimmering through, then going under again in thoughtful and melancholic layers, strictly held in minor. The feel meanders between ice cold harmonies and touchingly warm sound-design.

kds009, June 16th, 2019, Cassette & Digital

A1. Sophia Saze: Salome (სალომე)
A2. Sophia Saze: Bare
A3. Sophia Saze: Tsminda (წმინდა)
A4. Sophia Saze: Punches
A5. Sophia Saze: Howl
B1. Sophia Saze: Flower
B2. Sophia Saze: Orbits
B3. Sophia Saze: Volk (волк)
B4. Sophia Saze: De Dios
B5. Sophia Saze: Torn
B6. Sophia Saze: Safe
B7. Sophia Saze: Kera (კერა)
B8. Sophia Saze: Mirror Mirror
B9. Sophia Saze: Aliens

Sophia Saze - Tsminda (წმინდა)

@sophiasaze
www.facebook.com/sophiasaze
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk

Fleeing her Soviet ruled home of Tbisili at a young age with her parents, Saze grew up as a nomad living in Russia, France, Canada and the USA before finally settling down and pursuing a career in NYC. A classically trained musician and dancer, before long the Georgian turned her back on corporate life to pour her heart and soul into the arts. Becoming a diligent and versatile electronic music producer, DJ and live act, Sophia Saze is as comfortable sculpting intricate and atmospheric productions in the studio as she is decimating dancefloors with robust Techno and frenetic Breaks. 

Reflecting on her turbulent life and how it’s formed her own identity, Saze composed her aptly titled debut album, ‘Self’. Released on cassette in two instalments, ‘Part I’ dropped in June and was critically acclaimed with support from the likes of BBC 6MUSIC’s Tom Ravenscroft, Mixmag, DJ Mag, XLR8R, Resident Advisor, Future Music, Attack Magazine, TRAX, Tsugi, Ransom Note and Groove Magazine, with the latter drawing a
parallel between hers and Burial’s music.

Completing the journey, ‘Part II’ meanders through genres like Ambient, Hip Hop and Breaks, and features very personal insights including handpicked samples from Soviet television shows and VHS cassette recordings from her childhood.
Hidden allusions of her classical music education bring up distant memories and melt together the organic but thoroughly electronic ambience. Crackles, hushes and hisses are elaborated so well that the record virtually gushes over the ears like mountain torrents. It appears peaceful and quiet, then rousing and it is sparked with bewildering sounds. It lets scattered beats arise from the thicket and drown again in streams of noise. But in the end, especially the haunting seriousness of the album is compelling.
As a concept album, ‘Self’ consists of short and precise tracks mixed together, signifying a proper way to redefine a musical work in the modern age.

Mixed by commended Kingdoms label head Francis Harris, Sophia Saze’s detailed sound-design is brought to the front for an illuminating listening experience.

Sophia Saze - Mtvare (მთვარე)

https://www.facebook.com/Lights-Fluorescent-110969010255390/
https://www.facebook.com/daveharringtonmusic/
https://www.facebook.com/benoitandsergio/
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Francis Harris’ Brooklyn-based label continues to release adventurous new music, blurring the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition, ambient, and electronic music. Next up on the label is Lights Fluorescent - The Oldest Sons Of The Oldest Sons. 
Made up of Dave Harrington (Darkside) and Benjamin Jay (Benoit & Sergio), "The Oldest Sons Of The Oldest Sons" blends lopsided guitar loops and synth washes amid acres of reverb, while its vocals ascend toward violet altitudes. 
The single is also the title track to their upcoming debut album on Kingdoms.

The Oldest Sons Of The Oldest Sons

Lights Fluorescent - The Oldest Sons Of The Oldest Sons

www.facebook.com/Lights-Fluoresce…110969010255390/
www.facebook.com/daveharringtonmusic/
www.facebook.com/benoitandsergio/
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk


Made up of Dave Harrington of Darkside/Dave Harrington Group and Benjamin Jay of NDF/Benoit & Sergio, Lights Fluorescent is, as the two describe it, an ‘experiment in the spaces between song and texture, idea and reference, past and present.’ On their debut album, The Oldest Sons Of The Oldest Sons, the duo develops an atmospheric, slant-pop sensibility that lists toward the experimental tendencies of improvisational and ambient music.  


The result is a set of songs meant to be lived with. Entirely percussion-less, recordings drift on a tenderness of guitar, revenant feedback and vocals of autumnal intimation. Space Metal and July 9th process layers of bespoke noise and washed out chords to tarry with integral depth, light, and shadow, while Hotels distills country-western longing into its nth dimensional essence always unrequited. 

From within these sonic panoramas, vocals emerge more as watercolor traces than coarse etchings. They aim to capture evocative, lyrical intensities, eschewing the solace of the literal. As such, the album favors 'the gestural, the implicit, and the miniature over the more adolescent urges of grand narratives and epic.’ These preferences map onto the album in all of its moves. J Girls reveals a hint of story buried, like its context, deep in whorls of feedback. Fleeting images of monuments, cathedrals, or epitaphs on tracks like Palace Walls or Small Sacrifices speak to a sense of memory and community paradoxically ungrounded by the material instantiations meant to keep things in place.

Lights Fluorescent - Our Earlier Years

@sophiasaze
www.facebook.com/sophiasaze
https://www.facebook.com/romanfluegel/
https://www.facebook.com/anthonylinell/
https://www.facebook.com/FaltyDL/
www.facebook.com/kingdomsbk

A key player in the New York scene and boss of her own Dusk & Haze label, it was Francis Harris' Kingdoms that initially released Sophie Saze's standout two-part album, and that is where this forward looking package of highly original remixes lands. 
First up is German artist Roman Flügel, who’s responsible for a myriad of musical aliases and just as many different sounds. Here he is in experimental electronic mode and reworks 'Cure' into an elongated groove with twisted synth lines layering up over the shimmer, shadowy beats. It's a ghoulish track with a creepy atmosphere. 
Swede Anthony Linell makes tripped out, heady techno on Northern Electronics, always with a stylish aesthetic. That continues here as he reimagines 'Aliens' as an absorbing cosmic soundtrack. Supple, rubbery drums bubble down low while broad pads and astral motifs colour the airways above and sink you into a state of trance. 
New York beat maker and Blueberry Records boss FaltyDL then steps up with a remix of 'Self'. It is a typically off-kilter groove that seems to float on post-jungle drums while distant synth details make for a dreamy atmosphere. 
Closing out this killer package is Saze's original track 'Dreams', an intense techno cut where coarse textures peel off the industrial clatter of the drums.

Sophia Saze - Aliens (Anthony Linell Remix)

Scissor & Thread is cut from a different cloth than your average dance imprint.