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Listen Here!: 'Writer's Writer' Tells Everyman Stories On Debut Album

“Call It Even”

Scott Sean White
“Call It Even” Scott Sean White

"I"

JeGong

Pelagic Records

JeGong is the amalgamation of two distinct forces within post-rock and heavy music, Dahm Majuri Cipolla, drummer of MONO (Japan) and Watter, and Reto Mäder of Sum Of R. Bursting with new ideas, the group's energies focus on the crossroads between ambient, experimental, kraut and post-rock, while blazing trails with their electronic-forward approach.

For their new album "I," dropped on Oct. 16, the duo used krautrock as a launchpad to move into uncharted realms -- thereby conjuring the original, truly bold spirit of the style. The result is a record without inhibition -- delving deep into psychedelia, ambient, repetition, post-rock and even elements of dystopian sci-fi soundtracks like "Blade Runner" and "Metropolis" during the LP's 70+ minute runtime.

Consisting of 14 tracks, "I" is emblematic of the adventurous spirit at the dawn of electronic music converging with the wide-eyed wonder toward experimentation found at the height of the psychedelic movement. Using processed guitars and heavily manipulated synths, Mäder creates vast atmospheric architecture in which Cipolla's tasteful yet propulsive percussion adds a backbone and unexpected twists.

"Nothing To Prove"

Ervin Stellar

Ervin Stellar is the public persona of Andrew Jordan, who moved from New York to Nashville following his 2018 album, "The Moment." That relocation is referenced in the first line of his new album's title track, setting up a series of musical snapshots that encompasses three original songs and two well-chosen covers -- all of which are executed in a hard-to-pin-down mix of organic tones and greasy grooves. "Nothing To Prove" was release March 26 and reflects the sounds of Jordan's youth in Southern Michigan, where his mother preferred country on the radio while his dad enjoyed playing jazz records at home. "Elements of that have crept into my sound now," he says. "I like tapping into it, the subliminal pulse. Much of the arrangements are electric, but the foundation of it could just as well be unplugged, lights out."

Jordan self-produced and self-mixed the entire project to make sure he achieved his desired sound. "I guess the satisfaction of self-producing is that I get to carry that whole journey through, from writing the song to sitting back and listening to the master recording and saying, 'Yep, that was the vision, it's here.'"

"Call It Even"

Scott Sean White

For a songwriter who can produce such magical, poignant, and moving songs, it's probably no coincidence that Scott Sean White now makes his home in a place called Poetry, Texas. Like Guy Clark and Lori McKenna, White is a writer's writer. "Some songwriters spend precious time struggling to find their truth and make it rhyme," says fellow Texas troubadour and songwriting legend, Jack Ingram. "Others just pick up their guitar and tell it. Scott Sean White is one of the others."

On April 23, White will release his debut full-length album "Call It Even;" an unadulterated 11-song collection of tunes in which White soulfully invests himself with each new song, delivering them in his life-worn, warm and vibrant vocals that compel listeners to feel exactly what he's feeling. Even though White tells his own stories of heartbreak and hope in his emotionally riveting songs, he's telling everyone else's stories, too, and in every one of his songs, there's a glimpse at the ways that everybody's lives have sometimes fallen apart and been stitched together again by the silver threads of love.

"There Used to Be Horses Here"

Amy Speace

Proper Records/Wind Bone Records

Looking back on a 12-month span between her son's first birthday and the loss of her father, award-winning singer and songwriter Amy Speace culled 11 new songs directly from her depth of personal experiences -- childhood memories, coming of age in New York City and losing a parent while learning to become one -- to create her new full-length album, "There Used to Be Horses Here," out April 30.

While many of the subjects on the album are heavy, "There Used to Be Horses Here" isn't a sad record. Instead, it's a direct reflection of that year in Speace's life, propelled by a playwright's eye for detail, a performer's gift of vocal delivery, a poet's talent for concise writing and the extraordinary musicianship of collaborators, The Orphan Brigade. The end result is a sum much greater than its parts; a calling card for fans and critics alike to ask themselves whether Speace still fits only into the folksinger box she's long been placed in -- or perhaps, with this new album, she deserves to be seen in a new light.

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This spot will continue to be filled by news and reviews of new albums, both local and national. Send information about your new releases to Jocelyn Murphy at [email protected].

“I”

JeGong

Pelagic Records
“I” JeGong Pelagic Records
“There Used to Be Horses Here”

Amy Speace

Proper Records/Wind Bone Records
“There Used to Be Horses Here” Amy Speace Proper Records/Wind Bone Records
“Nothing To Prove”

Ervin Stellar
“Nothing To Prove” Ervin Stellar

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