Prolific as ever, Toronto's Badge Époque Ensemble have announced their sixth studio album.
Air, Light & Harmony arrives November 3 via Telephone Explosion Records. It follows 2022's Clouds of Joy — one of Exclaim!'s 50 best records of the year — and subsequent remix album, Clouds of Joy: Chance of Reign — but Air, Light & Harmony completes a trilogy the group began in 2019 with Nature, Man & Woman and continued with 2021's Future, Past & Present.
All three of these triptych-titled works feature compositions that resample stems and loops from the avant-jazz crew's previous records. Taking it one step further, the new LP features in-house recycling of snippets from the band's vinyl catalogue — à la Portishead — for BÉE's first entirely instrumental album to date.
Air, Light & Harmony eschews the maximalist density of the collaboration-heavy Clouds of Joy for something airier, befitting a playlist as much as a record (as alluded to by the iPhone screen artwork).
"I wanted to do an album that was more sketch than painting," bandleader Max Turnbull said in a statement. "No deliberation, just spontaneous movement." It was recorded in his garage home studio.
Turnbull and keyboardist Edwin de Goeij co-wrote the title track, which was built around a sample of Jay Anderson's drumming. At once foreboding and playfully light, percussion remains central to the groove with a vibraphone solo by Ed Squires.
Listen to the title track below, where you'll also find the full album tracklist.
Air, Light & Harmony:
1. Air, Light & Harmony
2. Bowls
3. Goding of Think
4. Child Is the Father of His Dream
5. Lujon
6. One for Sharif
7. Spider Perched on an Illusion
8. Thinking of God
9. Stalled in Genesis
Pre-order Air, Light & Harmony.
Air, Light & Harmony arrives November 3 via Telephone Explosion Records. It follows 2022's Clouds of Joy — one of Exclaim!'s 50 best records of the year — and subsequent remix album, Clouds of Joy: Chance of Reign — but Air, Light & Harmony completes a trilogy the group began in 2019 with Nature, Man & Woman and continued with 2021's Future, Past & Present.
All three of these triptych-titled works feature compositions that resample stems and loops from the avant-jazz crew's previous records. Taking it one step further, the new LP features in-house recycling of snippets from the band's vinyl catalogue — à la Portishead — for BÉE's first entirely instrumental album to date.
Air, Light & Harmony eschews the maximalist density of the collaboration-heavy Clouds of Joy for something airier, befitting a playlist as much as a record (as alluded to by the iPhone screen artwork).
"I wanted to do an album that was more sketch than painting," bandleader Max Turnbull said in a statement. "No deliberation, just spontaneous movement." It was recorded in his garage home studio.
Turnbull and keyboardist Edwin de Goeij co-wrote the title track, which was built around a sample of Jay Anderson's drumming. At once foreboding and playfully light, percussion remains central to the groove with a vibraphone solo by Ed Squires.
Listen to the title track below, where you'll also find the full album tracklist.
Air, Light & Harmony:
1. Air, Light & Harmony
2. Bowls
3. Goding of Think
4. Child Is the Father of His Dream
5. Lujon
6. One for Sharif
7. Spider Perched on an Illusion
8. Thinking of God
9. Stalled in Genesis
Pre-order Air, Light & Harmony.
