GABRIEL BRADY - 'DAY-BLIND'

Formats

• TU013LE - LP (COLOURED)

  4251804182638

Details

Through the interaction of dulcet textures and harmonious melodies, infused with Greek bouzouki string plucks, sporadic piano and violin, enigmatic Alexandria, Virginia born musician Gabriel Brady laments the everyday with daring simplicity on his lustrous ambient / alt-folk debut Day-blind for the Tonal Union imprint. Attracted by the sensibilities of old French film scores, especially those by Michel Legrand and Jean Constantin and the sheer simplistic beauty of forbearing composers Debussy, Satie and Ravel, Brady cites inspiration in a warm earnestness to the melodies; and the complete, unmediated feeling that such scores and orchestrations create. Written and produced in his bedroom dorm at Harvard, in Cambridge Massachusetts, Brady recorded organic instruments (violin, bouzouki) before routing them through a compact modular synth setup acting as a sound chamber for further manipulation (loops, effects, textures). In striving to make sense of the ordinary, on Day-blind, Brady’s works are invariably imbued with a sense of serenity and tension as he explains: “There’s a way in which everyday life can be a source of deep pain and melancholy, intensely disquieting and dull and leaden, and yet it can also be a place of deep peace and conscious attunement to the present moment, and it’s this tension that the album is built around.” The woozy opener ‘Womb’ accesses deep and personal emotional spaces with its textural synth swells alternating between two simple chords, a gentle piano interlude and grainy textures that induce a day-dream state. The intentional unhurried-pace of the track ‘Ordinary’ drifts between two key centers of doleful Wurlitzer chords, hand in hand with the listener who might only register the tonal shifts on a subconscious level. Another distinct feature is the warm enveloping presence of an eight string Greek bouzouki (a longnecked, string instrument) as heard on ‘Land and Sea’, after Brady fell in love with its unique timbre that echoes a filmic quality to that of Jean Constantin’s 400 Blows score to depict a sense of yearning. ‘Attune’ enters with slowed-down synths and bouzouki, looped over itself, delayed, and then resynthesized to create a strange but seamless blend of acoustic and electronic as Brady moves the centre of gravity. This deliberate intervention takes the ordinary instruments and defamiliarizes them, making their source/origin not readily apparent therefore removing any blanket of association. Day-blind too explores themes of memory, nostalgia, and melancholia which emanate from its lo-fi, intimate and sensitive nature. Through a hazy smokescreen of delays, tape loops and decays Brady contemplates a typical post modern-era dilemma of wistful longing and lonesome nostalgia, existing parallel/alongside contentment and staying in the present moment. The bare, reflective ‘Streetlight’ with its pitch-shifted and vari-speed piano, spliced with a weeping violin melody performed by Kalman Strauss, precedes the re-constructive ‘Untitled’ with a heavily filtered looping piano and rhythmic pulse. ‘Ambrosial’, dims the spotlight to a close being the most textural-laden track, combining loose sonic materials similar to Eno’s Ambient 4 collage techniques. By channelling his own acute musical sensibilities by means of evocative voicings, Brady momentarily deconstructs, warps and reshapes reality, posing questions about perception and our states of being as the album's curious title mysteriously suggests. Across its seven vignettes, Day-blind is life animated as Brady makes possible an everyday encounter with the transcendent. For fans of: Merope, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer, Memotone, The Caretaker Mixed and Mastered by Joe Talia (Oren Ambarchi / Jim O’Rourke, Arnold Dreyblatt)

Tracks

1. Womb 2. Ordinary 3. Land and Sea 4. Attune 5. Streetlight 6. Untitled 7. Ambrosial

Press

RIYL: Merope, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer, Memotone, The Caretaker

Audio & Video

COMING UP ROSES - 'HOW DID WE FALL SO FAR?'

Formats

• INH003LP - LP (COLOURED)

  5056828967235

• INH003CD - CD

  5056828967280

Details

Hailing from the island nation of Singapore, London-based indie/alt rock band Coming Up Roses forge a sound that is distinctively familiar - yet you can’t quite put your finger on. Led by singer-bassist Emily Sera, the group has emerged as one of the most promising acts out of Southeast Asia owing to their dynamic live shows and heartfelt lyrical themes. Their unique blend of alt-rock and indie pop drenched with shoegaze-y textures has earned them accolades the world over, being featured as a Spotify RADAR artist in 2023 and making appearances at festivals such as Ampthill (UK), Canadian Music Week and LUCFest (Taiwan). In addition, their firebrand performances has seen them open for UK band FUR as well as slot in alongside esteemed international acts such as Soccer Mommy and Ichiko Aoba as part of The Alex Blake Charlie Sessions in 2023. The band had their first pressing of their debut EP ‘Waters’ on vinyl sell out within 24 hours, and since their relocation to the UK have earned the praises of radio DJs including John Kennedy (Radio X) who described their music as a “classic sound”. Their third, self-titled EP arrived in April 2024, preceded by the release of singles ‘Don’t Let It Break Your Heart’ and ‘Back The Way We Came’. The release was followed by a summer of touring in the UK as the band also played their first European shows including a gig at the iconic Supersonic in Paris. The Autumn of 2024 saw the band return for a tour in Asia with dates in Taiwan, Japan, Thailand as well as their home-city of Singapore.

Tracks

1 Hello Miss Anxiety 2 I'm In Bed 3 Over Your Head 4 Little Guy 5 Billy and Allie 6 Tired 7 Gotta Lose It All 8 I Miss You 9 Awake 10 How Did We Fall So Far?

Press

'Pummelling guitar-driven crescendo' - NME
'I like this, it?s got a classic sound' - John Kennedy

Audio & Video