Younger is Matt Joynt (Anathallo) and Ryan Daniel Hammer (Unwed Sailor, The Skull). The two began collaborating in 2007 after discovering a mutual interest in attempting forms of risk-taking that produce unhindered presence. Early performances with Lucky Dragons and High Places were about the naked terror and ecstasy of showing up without any songs. Whatever happened was an attempt to sonically mirror their internal experiences coming together. Over the past few years their sets have produced caverns of ricocheting sine waves and improvised mantra-like lyrical meditations. Other times they have been beat-heavy, dissonant, far out, and even embarrassing.
New Message is the culmination of a friendship spent entertaining the possibilities that unfold from a donʼt just do something, stand there approach to being. The record was written, recorded and mixed in an intensive week before Hammer relocated to San Francisco from Chicago in the summer of 2011. Each side of the LP contains an edited long-form improvisation born out of conversations about the elusive nature of meaning. The music - constructed mostly from analog synthesizers, a light-sensitive Theremin, and micro-edited vocal sampling - falls somewhere between the worlds of psychedelic drone and pop. Whereas “Iʼm Gonna Miss U So Bad” is a simple meditation that mourns and praises the inescapability of emotional attachment, the minimalistic beat of “New Message” lays the groundwork for heavily gated vocals to hover in the air, pulsing with easy-going levity.
New Message will be released 3.21.12 on Positive Beat Recordings.
