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Baker's Dozen

Embedded In The Skull: Colin Stetson's Favourite LPs
Cian Traynor , March 9th, 2017 10:27

As the experimental multi-instrumentalist prepares to release an envelope-pushing solo album and play the Quietus-partnered Big Ears Festival in Tennessee, he takes us through 13 LPs that have shaped the journey so far.

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Led Zeppelin – III
I've probably spent more time with this one when I was growing up, listening to it in elementary school and beyond. It was one of those records I was raised on. But there's a reason I chose to include this and it's something I'm sure people will hear by themselves. The first song I recorded for my new album is called 'Between Water and Wind'. When I was mixing it, about a month afterwards, I was doing yardwork outside with music blaring. It was a beautiful sunny day and I put on my favourite 'go to work on a sunny day' record, III. As soon as it started playing, I realised that the whole groove of what I’d recorded is basically 'Immigrant Song'. [laughs] So that was too much not to make mention of.

For someone who listens to a lot of music, I don't listen to that many different things. I'm a re-listener. I'm not somebody who finds new acts they love all the time. I'm much more fickle than that. But the things that I do end up adoring… I listen to them to death, to the point that I can hear every detail when they're not playing. That's just how I work, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it ended up in there.