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This "experimental disco" track made with Jonathan Laroquette (Jogger) and previous single White Turtleneck couldn't be more different, and the album as a whole goes more places than you could imagine.
Experimental disco with 80’s elements (King Crimson, Tears for Fears) and modern drum tones. Amir reunites with his old band mate Jonathan Larroquette (Jogger) to create this track.
BOZO BEACH
WHITE TURTLENECK
BANDCAMP
One of my favorite things about working with Colorfield Records so far is their ability to coax solo albums out of incredible supporting musicians who would otherwise never think to put themselves into the spotlight. The resulting music is often incredible, carrying a totally different tone and approach from the work of folks who are eager to present their personal work to the masses. It's also music that was saved from the void, in a sense. Amir Yaghmai (session musician to tons of incredible bands and players and regular member of Julian Casablancas band The Voidz) was pretty explicit that making a solo record was not on his radar before this.
Go Bozo ventures further afield than some of the jazz/ambient work Colorfield has been releasing so far, mostly eschewing the more organic textures of the previous releases and focusing on synth adventures, programmed drums, processed vocals. The saxophone heavy "Black Turtleneck" is a notable and lovely exception, as is Yaghmai's clear and rich baritone vocal on "Lamb & Tato." Taking off my publicist hat for a moment: it's extremely sick, and the whole thing feels incredibly mature and well-controlled, in spite of the title/mantra. Hope you dig it as much as I do!
ABOUT THE LP
Amir Yaghmai is a world class guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, at the top of the rolodex as a session wiz and has toured the world many times over. His credentials range from electronic staple Daedelus to recording with HAIM and serving as a member in Julian Casablancas’ band The Voidz. And yet, when the team at Colorfield Records approached Yaghmai about hitting the studio to record his own solo album he hesitated at first. All of his knowledge and hard-earned experience came from years of collaboration and he’d never aspired to be a solo artist. Doubt crept in.
Of course, the final product, Go Bozo, doesn’t come close to hinting at any of this hesitance; the album is a brilliant blend of club ready dance grooves and ambient explorations–a bit like hearing a Floating Points remix of Brian Eno’s Apollo. Yaghmai had a few touchstones in mind, collaborators like Feist and Nosaj Thing to help out on a few tracks, and plethora of notes he sketched that would help him in the recording process, but once he hit the studio, he abandoned any plans; he showed up and simply played.
“If I'm helping someone else's vision take shape, what I’m playing is always very carefully considered and I take notes from people; it’s very collaborative.,” Yaghmai explains. “When it comes to just something from nothing on my own, I was a novice. “Go Bozo” was kind of a mantra to remind myself just to play and not overthink. Just hit the studio and hammer out something; the rest will reveal itself.”
With the project, Yaghmai wanted to follow his whims, wherever his intuition took him. That philosophy changes on a song to song basis, which makes the end result all the more thrilling. On “Bozo Beach.” rubbery synths skitter up against scratchy drum pads and a rotating cast of melodic accoutrement. The song moves from straight ahead techno to a sort of acid house homage that incorporates subtle elements of jungle and drum n bass. It’s a fascinating interpolation of a number of different dance forms, and Yaghmai weaves them together such that these disparate strains coalesce into something radically inventive yet vaguely familiar.
On “Lamb & Tato,” warm piano melodies are given a near-solo spotlight as Yaghmai’s rich, searching voice enters the fray. “If I knew, if I only knew, how fast the day would come, when you’d be, when you’d only be, a memory,” he sings with a somber edge, the last twinkle of a relationship fading from his memory. “Lamb & Tato” signifies everything Yaghmai wanted to achieve with Go Bozo. It’s a diverging side street from most of the record, and yet it fits in with the sounds and themes of the project with ease. It is distinctly vulnerable, but Yaghmai owns this nakedness. It’s a snapshot of a moment, one that is now forever preserved. “I just tried to be as present as possible, so I wouldn’t think further than any particular moment,” Amir Yaghmai explains. “By the end of it, there wasn’t any time to be nervous. I was just responding to each new idea as it came along.”
-Will Schube
STATEMENT FROM AMIR
“Go Bozo” was a mantra I made for myself going into this recording process to help me stay instinctual and to not consider anything but what I wanted to hear at any given moment. I’ve always been a collaborator and careful listening/consideration is a huge part of whatever success I’ve had up till now. This record required a completely different approach. Part of the reason for this is practical because of the tightness of the recording schedule(about a day and a half per tune). More importantly “going bozo” helped me to avoid the self consciousness and second guessing that could derail an otherwise inspired session. As Pete(label head, engineer) would put it, “first idea best idea”.
What ended up resulting from this method is a record that combines a few of my favorite aspects and styles of music. The experimental nature of electronic music, the improvisatory qualities of jazz and some stylistic cues from folk music of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.
I don’t think I would’ve ever made a solo record on my own and I’m very grateful to Pete and Todd of Colorfield for giving me this opportunity and the confidence to unleash the musical Bozo within.
ABOUT COLORFIELD RECORDS
Colorfield Records is a new label based out of Pete Min's Lucy's Meat Market Studio in LA. Colorfield artists are encouraged to compose in the studio, often playing instruments that they're not accustomed to and relying as heavily on sound as on musicianship and composition. The process is designed to emphasize getting outside of comfort zones in order to increase spontaneity and exploration.
September 28 - "White Turtleneck" Single + LP Announce
Inspired by Italian and Japanese ambient music of the 70’s/80’s. Using Moog modular synth and Gregorian chant. Featuring Feist on Selena
October 19 - "Bozo Beach" Single
Experimental disco with 80’s elements (King Crimson, Tears for Fears) and modern drum tones. Amir reunites with his old band mate Jonathan Larroquette (Jogger) to create this track.
October 28 - Album Street
LINKS
Amir Yaghmai - Instagram
Colorfield: Website || Instagram || Bandcamp
ALBUM CREDITS
- Feist (organ)9 (guitar)6
- Nosaj Thing(drum programming) 3
- Benny Bock(modular) 4
- Mike Andrews(granular synth) 1, 4, 5, 7
- Jonathan Larroquette(additional drum programming) 2
- Daniel Rotem(tenor sax) 6
- Todd Dahlhoff (upright) 7 (synth bass) 10
- Brian Lebarton (ppg) 7
- Gabe Noel (AI father of SANDER) 10
Mixed & Engineered by Pete Min at Lucy's Meat Market in Los Angeles, CA
Mastered for vinyl by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio
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