Sleepy? Nova Scotia-based composer Joshua Van Tassel is about to make sure of it with his new album of "lullabies for adults," previewed today by the serene lead single "Smiles Displaced."
The Recently Beautiful is due November 17 via Backward Music. It follows Van Tassel's 2020 album, Dance Music Volume II: More Songs for Slow Motion, as well as his recent production work on the self-titled debut from Exclaim! New Faves alum Nico Paulo.
Every track on The Recently Beautiful is purposefully short and sweet — under three minutes long — and was written at night while the rest of the artist's household was asleep. To emphasize the importance of the hushed quality of these songs, Van Tassel even told pianist Robbie Grunwald in quartet recording sessions that he should exist between "pressing a key and not making any sound and pressing a key and making a sound."
With an accompanying AI video created by Graeme Cornies and inspired by Liu Cixin's sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem, the tranquil majesty of lead single "Smiles Displaced" definitely evokes a future visit from Mr. Sandman — but you'll want to be awake to register the artfulness of its gently bowed strings and muted key plinks.
"'Smiles Displaced' is a piece written in reverence of the part of our minds that, after an extremely long/hard day, allows us to extract and replay sometimes only the best parts of it," Van Tassel explained. "We can focus on these displaced feelings and use them to help us continue onto the next day's challenges with the hope that maybe tomorrow will bring more of those good memories rather than bad."
Listen to the single below, where you'll also find the album tracklist.
The Recently Beautiful:
1. You Could Be Anywhere
2. Blown Clean Through
3. When Will You Be You
4. Smiles Displaced
5. Once You've Gone
6. Three More Tears
7. Unity Rain
8. Find It Again
9. Song for Robbie
10. At Least You Tried
11. Song for Sam
12. We'd Leave Together
13. We See the Same Moons
Pre-order The Recently Beautiful.
The Recently Beautiful is due November 17 via Backward Music. It follows Van Tassel's 2020 album, Dance Music Volume II: More Songs for Slow Motion, as well as his recent production work on the self-titled debut from Exclaim! New Faves alum Nico Paulo.
Every track on The Recently Beautiful is purposefully short and sweet — under three minutes long — and was written at night while the rest of the artist's household was asleep. To emphasize the importance of the hushed quality of these songs, Van Tassel even told pianist Robbie Grunwald in quartet recording sessions that he should exist between "pressing a key and not making any sound and pressing a key and making a sound."
With an accompanying AI video created by Graeme Cornies and inspired by Liu Cixin's sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem, the tranquil majesty of lead single "Smiles Displaced" definitely evokes a future visit from Mr. Sandman — but you'll want to be awake to register the artfulness of its gently bowed strings and muted key plinks.
"'Smiles Displaced' is a piece written in reverence of the part of our minds that, after an extremely long/hard day, allows us to extract and replay sometimes only the best parts of it," Van Tassel explained. "We can focus on these displaced feelings and use them to help us continue onto the next day's challenges with the hope that maybe tomorrow will bring more of those good memories rather than bad."
Listen to the single below, where you'll also find the album tracklist.
The Recently Beautiful:
1. You Could Be Anywhere
2. Blown Clean Through
3. When Will You Be You
4. Smiles Displaced
5. Once You've Gone
6. Three More Tears
7. Unity Rain
8. Find It Again
9. Song for Robbie
10. At Least You Tried
11. Song for Sam
12. We'd Leave Together
13. We See the Same Moons
Pre-order The Recently Beautiful.
