Lars Gotrich
One last dip skyward, scraping at the meditative music of Terry Riley and Alice Coltrane as Weathers reflects on West Texas desert sands in an Auto-Tuned stream of consciousness.
Favorite track: A Mountain of Snakes, The High Plains, A Knee in the Earth.
Subscribe
now to receive all the new
music
Andrew Weathers creates,
including this release
and 36 back-catalog releases,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
You’ll also get access to
subscriber-only
exclusives.
Learn more.
Full Spectrum Records is pleased to present the FINAL release from the Andrew Weathers Ensemble. After 10 years and 5 albums, this is the project’s final capstone: 4 tracks, just under 41 minutes in running time.
All of the AWE hallmarks are on display – the sweeping arrangements, friscalating vibes and layered vocal treatments. His friends and collaborators all feature heavily, too. This is prime Ensemble territory, in every sense.
Weathers conceived most of these songs in his head while driving long stretches of empty road in West Texas, a bleak and often bizarre region that he has come to regard as “home” in the years since the first Ensemble recordings were released via Sleep On The Floor [way back in 2011]. Whenever he’d arrive at a destination, he’d take a moment to frantically write down whatever musical figure had been caught up in his brain and start to work out the parts.
It is perhaps fitting that he wrote more lyrics for this release than in the past, where he might have preferred to mine old folk songs or the IWW's Little Red Songbook. The rolling, arid desert of his newfound home has proven a fitting canvas for what he terms a “Deep Map of Self-psychogeography,” blending imaginary and real landscapes into an evocative whole that is at once both welcoming and strangely alien. The end result is one of Weathers’ most personal musical statements to date.
We hate to see this project go, but we know that it’s all in the service of illuminating new sonic terrain and nursing a spark for previously uncharted collaborations. So, join us in raising a glass to one hell of a run.
credits
released August 3, 2020
AW: electric guitar, synthesizer, drum machine, piano, percussion, electric piano, voice
CJ Boyd: electric bass, upright bass
Austin Glover: alto saxophone, piano, violin
Luke Gullickson: electric piano
Adam Hirsch: alto saxophone
Lindsay Keast: flute
mari maurice: violin, viola, alto saxophone
Arjun Mendiratta: violin
David Menestres: upright bass
Aaron Oppenheim: mel’ordion, electric bass
Eric Perreault: cello
claire rousay: percussion
Erik Schoster: Pippi Computer
Scott Siler: drums, vibraphone, percussion
Rin Smith: crystals
Shanna Sordahl: cello
CC Sorensen: piano
Blaine Todd: ebow guitar
Lindsey Verrill: upright bass, banjo
Recorded June 2018 - June 2019 at:
Ancient Owl Audio, Berkeley, CA, occupied Chochenyo Ohlone land, engineered by Ryan Jobes
Sacred Heart, Oakland, CA, occupied Chochenyo Ohlone land, engineered by Adam Hirsch
Wind Tide, Littlefield, TX, occupied Comanche land
Weathers Household, Chapel Hill, NC, occupied Eno, Catawba, & Shakori land
Nightsound Studios, Carrboro, NC, occupied Eno, Catawba, & Shakori land, engineered by David Barrett
mari’s House, Austin, TX, occupied Tonkawa & Comanche land
Hackberry House, Austin, TX, occupied Tonkawa & Comanche land
Lockaway, San Antonio, TX, occupied Tonkawa land
Field Recording from Blackwater Draw Site, Portales, NM, occupied Kiowa, Comanche, Mescalero Apache, & Jumanos land
Lyrics by AW except for the first verse of ReWild Your Friends, which was written on a wall at Howard Finster’s Paradise Gardens, Summerville, GA, occupied Cherokee land
Mixed by Steve Ditore and Andrew Weathers at Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle, WA, occupied Coast Salish land
Production made possible through the Artist Residency Programs at Jack Straw Cultural Center
supported by 39 fans who also own “The Thousand Birds in the Earth, The Thousand Birds in the Sky”
My god, what an absolutely incredible Suite. I'll admit, I've struggled to get into Pharoah Sanders due to diving headfirst into some of his most challenging catalogue and that never worked. This is the perfect place to restart. Floating Points is new for me and I can honestly say I've never heard synthesizer music this lush and organic before. the LSO is just perfect. This is one of those albums that any serious music fan needs in their life. The perfect swan song for the great Pharaoh! 5/5 ClassyMusicSnob
This stunning, beautiful project from Fujian duo Southeast of Rain 东南有雨 blends field recordings with rippling notes from the pipa. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 8, 2021