Anagrams // Blue Voices LP

Multi-instrumentalist from Atlanta, USAWith Shy Layers (JD Walsh)This is the debut record by Jeff Crompton's duo Anagrams, released in November 2023 on the IDM label Balmat in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

Contains 11 songs from etho-jazz to ambient jazz.

*If you would like a digital sound source, please feel free to contact us.

Below is a commentary by the label.

"Co-founder of BalmatPhilip Sherburne and Albert Salinas were long-time fans of Shy Layers' lilting Balearic pop. that's whyShy LayersWhen JD Walsh asked us to listen to a demo he was making with fellow Atlanta multi-instrumentalist Jeff Crompton, we jumped at the chance. As soon as I heard what they were working on, the decision was almost instantaneous. 

Walsh and Crompton are Anagrams, and their debut album, Blue Voices, is a departure from Balmat's electronic music. It's not ambient music, but it's not completely ambient music either. The two musicians, who met when Walsh moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta in 2 and began collaborating a few years later, see this music in similarly vague terms. "I like it because it's not jazz," jokes Crompton, a veteran and certified jazz player. And JD says, ``I like it because it's jazz.''

Crompton is a musician (and former high school band teacher) with deep roots in Georgia's improvisational and experimental music scene, performing with Eugene Chadbourne and on Godspeed You. Godspeed You! with Eugene Chadbourne! A guest appearance on Black Emperor and a 12-hour drone performance with theremin and lap steel duet at Big Ears in Knoxville. With Blue Voices, he plays alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, electric piano, and organ. Walsh has been releasing music as Shy Layers since 2015, when he began self-releasing on Bandcamp. The following year, Germany's Growing Bin packaged his first two EPs into a self-titled album, and in 2, Tim Sweeney's label Beats in Space released Shy Layers' second album, Midnight Marker. On those albums, Walsh's playful harmonic instincts were channeled into wistful compositions with tropical overtones, but on Blue Voices, his experimental tendencies take center stage. He plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric lap steel, bass, Moog Matriarch, modular synth, and programmed drums, focusing on rich textural layers and abstract tonal assemblages. .

The album's 11 songs include the atmospheric sound of Daniel Lanois's pedal steel like "Apollo," the emotional mode of etho-jazz, the quietness of late summer like a traditional feature, and the sound of Patrick Shiroishi. There are faint hints of familiar attempts by a versatile player and composer. ``Blue Voices'' captures the whimsical sounds created by the duo's restless musical imagination. "

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Ask us for digital files. 12" black 140gram vinyl. 

Tracklist:

1. Birds on Clifton 04:32
2. Blue Voices 03:57
3. Hymn No. 2 03:30
4. Catch It 03:05
5. Ex Uno Plures 04:36
6. Hidden Hearts 02:50
7. Another Cloud 03:59
8. Song in Six 03:50
9. Interesting Times 03:02
10. Let Us Sing Sad Songs Together 03:37
11. What Is Left Is Music 03:13

Balmat:

"Balmat co-founders Philip Sherburne and Albert Salinas have been fans of Shy Layers' lilting, Balearic pop for years, so when Shy Layers' JD Walsh asked us to listen to a set of demos he was working up with fellow Atlanta multi-instrumentalist Jeff Crompton, we jumped at the chance. And once we heard their work in progress, the decision was almost immediate: We have to release this.

Together, Walsh and Crompton are Anagrams, and their debut album together, Blue Voices, might initially seem like a departure from Balmat's habitually electronic terrain. It's not ambient music, but it's also not not ambient music, at least to listeners in the right frame of mind. The two musicians, who met when Walsh moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta in 2016 and began collaborating a few years later, see the music in similarly ambiguous terms. “I like it because it's not jazz,” jokes Crompton, a veteran and credentialed jazz player. “And JD likes it because it's jazz.”

Crompton is a musician (and former high-school band teacher) with deep roots in Georgia's improvised and experimental music scenes; his credits include shows with Eugene Chadbourne, a guest appearance with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and a collaboration with Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel's 12-hour drone performance at Knoxville's Big Ears. On Blue Voices he plays alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet, electric piano, and organ. Walsh has been releasing music as Shy Layers since 2015, when he started self-releasing on Bandcamp; the following year, Germany's Growing Bin packaged his first two EPs as a self-titled album, and in 2018, Tim Sweeney's Beats in Space label put out Shy Layers' seminal album, Midnight Marker. Where those records channeled Walsh's playful harmonic instincts into wistful songwriting with tropical overtones, on Blue Voices he lets his experimental tendencies take the lead. Playing acoustic and electric guitars, electric lap steel, bass, Moog Matriarch, modular synth, and programmed drums, he concentrates his energies on richly textual layers and abstract assemblages of tone color.

Across the album's 11 tracks, there are faint echoes of familiar touchstones: the atmospheric twang of Daniel Lanois' pedal steel on Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks; the mercurial modal runs of Ethio-jazz; the late-summer calm of Fuubutsushi; the versatility of players and composers like Patrick Shiroishi and Sam Gendel, who are asking similar questions about where jazz ends and some other, nameless territory begins. Mostly, though, what Blue Voices captures is the quixotic sound of two restless musical imaginations making it up as they go along, two voices discovering a shared language in a hitherto unexplored shade of blue.

Artist: Anagrams

Label: Balmat