Badge Époque Ensemble Announce New Album 'Future, Past & Present'

Listen to the title track now

BY Matt BobkinPublished Jan 7, 2021

Less than two months after dropping sophomore album Self Help, Toronto avant-jazz crew Badge Époque Ensemble have announced a follow-up. Future, Past & Present is due on February 5 via Telephone Explosion.

Five of the album's six tracks are alternate, instrumental mixes of songs from each of the Ensemble's previous releases, stripped of the guest vocals from the likes of U.S. Girls' Meg Remy, Dorothea PaasJames Baley and Jennifer Castle.

The lone new number is the album's title track, which is available for listening now. It's a seven-and-a-half-minute-long odyssey of seductive horns, playful percussion and psychedelic ambience, serving as a potent reminder of the outfit's instrumental prowess.

If this release strategy sounds familiar to seasoned BÉE devotees, that's because it is — in 2019, the band quickly followed up their self-titled debut with the Nature, Man & Woman EP.

Self Help was named one of Exclaim!'s 25 Canadian Albums You Might Have Missed in 2020.

Listen to "Future, Past & Present" below.


Future, Past & Present:

1. Future, Past & Present
2. Undressed in Solitude (Instrumental Edit)
3. Zealous Child (Instrumental)
4. Sing a Silent Gospel (Instrumental)
5. Unity (It's Up to You) (Instrumental)
6. Just Space for Light (Instrumental)

Pre-order Future, Past & Present.

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