Listening to Blues Control‘s LP Valley Tangents (Drag City) from last year, one never knew just what kind of sounds might come blowing thru the window next! “Open Air” was a great example…When the tape first starts rolling on this six minute piece, only a hint of activity is audible, until footsteps can be heard, and then, eventually, slow rolling waves of static breeze bring in Lea Cho‘s pastoral piano étude. However, the piano’s placement in the mix makes us question it’s proximity, and hints of competing activity only seem to accentuate the suspicion that we might be audio voyeurs, here, listening from some distance to Cho play unawares. Before long, though, the piano is panned to front and center, and the sound gains richness and presence as bandmate Russ Waterhouse rounds things out with subtle, organic hints of bass and keys. The video for the track is directed by the visual artist Tara Sinn, and it often makes interesting use of split-screens to slowly meld and mutate heavily treated nature footage, and other psychedelic ephemera, for a great visual accompaniment to the track’s idyllic ambience. Blues Control will be touring Europe in June, so don’t miss the dates below.
Blues Control Live 2013:
6/7/13 Le Bourg Lausanne Switzerland
6/8/13 Kraspek Myzik Lyon France
6/9/13 Cave 12 Geneva Switzerland
6/10/13 Miscelanea Barcelona Spain
6/12/13 La Limera Valencia Spain
6/13/13 El Perro Club Madrid Spain
6/14/13 Ibu Hots Vitoria Spain
6/15/13 Festival West Side Nantes France
6/16/13 Espace En Cours Paris France
6/17/13 Slowboy Dusseldorf Germany
6/19/13 Les Ateliers Claus Brussels Belgium
6/20/13 Occii Amsterdam Netherlands
6/22/13 Power Lunches London United Kingdom
6/23/13 ATP Fest Camber Sands United Kingdom w/ Laraaji
6/24/13 Echnum Antwerp Belgium
6/25/13 Oberdeck Hanover Germany
6/29/13 Drone Bar Copenhagen Denmark
6/30/13 Fusion Festival Larz Germany
7/2/13 The Circus Helsinki Finland
7/3/13 Sing Sang Studio Malmö Sweden
7/4/13 Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin Germany
7/5/13 Urban Spree Berlin Germany
