Pale Jay - Bewilderment - VINYL LP

The sun shines somewhere all the time. Humanity bathes in nourishing light, children play, people dance, work, grow, bathe, learn. As long as the rays of the sun, longer even, the sounds of music emanate from our bodies. Tools amplify our breath, resonate from hits, twang and toll. People come together, travel long distance, just to make music together. Magic Carpet came together for this purpose years ago, some twenty summers and falls. At the core, six guys from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, who set out to perform various traditions, bring old sounds into now, music enabling rapid travel. Maybe as an educational project? Perhaps, but also a weekly gig at an Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago. Over time they came to know each other musically, lock in, and their sounds flowed joyously through house parties, block parties, street festivals. One long weekend about seven years ago, Magic Carpet all had some time together in Chicago's Bel Air Sound Studio, and recorded the grooviest, loveliest, soulfullest, chillest set of tunes in the world. The rhythm section of Parrish Hicks (bass), Makaya McCraven (kit), and Ryan Mayer (percussion) unfolds hypnotic tales while Fred Jackson's soprano sax dances, Temuel Bey's guitar trances and Teddy Aklilu's keys fill the zone. The tunes wear different masks, from straight-up funk (Aum U Wah) through smooth jazz-inflected bliss (Flow), to the West African grunge of Touareg Fever and Rumba Gnawa. Broken Compass is Magic Carpet's first widely-distributed recording, and it documents the band at the peak of their first stage, before Parrish Hicks's transition in 2017. Since then, the group has continued to evolve, more recently adding vocalist and dancer Tracy King to their lineup. Those in Chicago who know, know, and now you know too. Magic Carpet's light shines.

Low End Love Songs, more so than previous releases, is a diary in form of song. I knew I just had to wait for the songs to be ready to be picked, like ripe fruit from a tree. The entire album came together in just four weeks, a process that was both cathartic and joyful. Each tune encapsulates a distinct moment in my life, with music serving as my means of processing complex and sometimes conflicting emotions. In this album, I depart from loop-based song structures towards more intricate and rich compositions. Latin influences permeate the music, adding new layers of rhythms and textures to my soul-music roots. - Pale JayAdmittedly, I'm not a great salesperson when it comes to running our little tag. I do my best not to give into hyperbole or build something up too intensely if someone has not heard a new artist yet. I prefer to simply present the music and let the listener decide how they feel about it. However, we live in an age when the InchstoryInch put together by publicists, labels, and managers are often the driving force of an artist's ascension into the zeitgeist. And for me, that's always felt rather artificial, even when the narrative is genuine.But every once in a while, a project comes along that takes on a life of it's own. And I can say without a doubt that the growth of Pale Jay's reach since we first started working with him has little to do with conjured narratives or clever marketing, but more to do with how the music makes the listener feel. It's that simple. In fact, Jay is so enigmatic and without a narrative that the mere absence of a story has become the story. Who is he? Where is he from? What's next?Some questions are better left unanswered in my opinion, my friend. Including the question, InchWhy does this music make me feel so much?Inch You're better off just sitting back, disconnecting, and letting Low End Love Songs by Pale Jay wrap you u

Album Tracks 1. A'coming Home 2. The 6.09 3. Sweep Away the Shards 4. Gaza 5. Love, Stay Strong 6. The Book of Dread 7. The Here & Now 8. The Gratitude Suite