On May 27, Kranky will be releasing the debut album, Lullabies And Nightmares (artwork above), by trumpeter and member of Michigan Afrobeat crew NOMO, Justin Walter. Ahead of that, you can listen to and download album cut ‘Dream Weaving’ below:
Having begun experimenting with an Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI), a natty, brass player-friendly version of Akai’s wind controller/synth hybrid, Walter has sought to pin down his sketches with help from Erik Hall and fellow NOMO member drummer Quinn Kirchner for the LP.
The end result is impressive: ‘Dream Weaving’ is a cosmic meld of muted, EVI purling and an almost jazzy drum loop, over which Walter draws rapidly oscillating melodic lines. Says Walter: “I set out to record an album of completely improvised music that fused my experiments with the Electronic Valve Instrument and my love of held sounds on the trumpet. In recent years I’ve come to see the trumpet as an instrument that speaks in slow and long sounds, with meaning coming from the shape and inflection of each note. The process for this was fairly straight forward, record lots of improvisations. Of the songs on the album, most are one take improvisations with the only overdubs being drums.”