Shabason, Krgovich & Harris // Philadelphia LP

Ambient-bedroom pop artist from Toronto, CanadaNicholas Krgovich, Joseph Shabason, and Chris Harris are launching a Toronto pop label in July 2023.This is a reissued record released from Ideé Fixe Records (originally released in 2020).

The romance, love, and heartbreak that tend to be featured in the pop genre are completely eliminated, and the shower before going to bed, the dusty minivan, and the sip.Gatorade, casual conversations with your neighbors, and more, the trivial beauty and rich emotions that live in everyday life are gently wrapped in the palm of your hand and gently presented with 8 gems of ambient pop. Comes with DL code.

Labels and other worksplease use this form. ///Click here to see more Idee Fixe Records releases available at Tobira.

----------------------

Includes DL code. 12" black vinyl. 

"The protagonist of Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness's 1969 novel, World Light, gives a tearful goodbye to the grains and knots of his attic ceiling when he leaves after years spent staring up at them, bedridden. , and Chris Harris chase a similar kind of romance toward the mundane and miniscule details made more visible by the world's newfound relationship with the Great Indoors. The three musicians, who convened on a shared love of New Age music, create a space of sonic refuge out of softly electrified textures, burbling live instrumentation, and Shabason's lacquered synth work, all of which support Krgovich's koan-like poetry about showers before bed, dusty minivans, sips of gatorade, and the modern minutiae rendered beautiful by mere observation.

Contrasting the forced trend of remote collaborations, Philadelphia was recorded across three days of sessions in Toronto, pre-COVID. “Somewhere back in 2018 we started to pass demos back and forth over email and we quickly got about eight song sketches together,” explains Shabason. “Then in fall of 2019 we all realized that if we didn't get into the same room together we were never gonna finish this album.” The trio's physical proximity while recording underwrites the hushed tones that pervade the album, which itself reads like the kind of quiet, personal conversation that can only happen in close quarters lest it be washed away in the din of public life. Philadelphia establishes this immediately with “Osouji”, a track whose gentle intro of balmy synth and crickets suggests a sunrise and sunset equally. Bathed in calm light, Krgovich sets a scene not unfamiliar in this day and age: “Garden pebbles underfoot / the wet bamboo / been inside all the day / deep cleaning room “Krgovich wrote the album's lyrics under the self-imposed philosophy of“ first thought, best thought ”admittedly avoiding the well-trodden subjects of romance, love, and heartbreak. He chooses instead to reveal the romanticism of the world hidden in plain sight while Harris and Shabason deepen the sentiment with reflective, instrumental excursions. Whispered, conversational synthesizers fill out “Tuesday Afternoon” over a substrates of birdsong, and vocals makeonly brief appearances near the track's beginning and end. After a postcard-like recounting of seeing a roadside stranger experience car trouble. After a postcard-like recounting of seeing a roadside stranger experience car trouble. After a postcard-like recounting of seeing a roadside stranger experience car trouble. , Krgovich repeats the hushed mantra “wrap your loving arms around it”, almost as a call-to-action for embracing the present moment as it is instead of as it ought to be. “I Don't See the Moon” is a lighter mood by comparison. With its jazz-tinged interplay of piano and guitar, complete with a gliding electric bass line, the song provides levity, but is no less introspective than the rest of the collection. “Waltz” serves similar ends without much interjection. from the drums--the beat is instead implied by the rhythm of Krgovich's vocals that bear a subtle smooth RnB influence as he paints a picture of his architectural surroundings: “and all the cactus gardens growing right on through the fenc es / and the flowers over high walls / and the houses all the way / down, down, down. ”
--Idee Fixe Records

Artist: Shabason, Krgovich & Harris

Label: Label: Ideé Fixe Records