Black Taffy is the Dallas-based musician Donovan Jones, and today he released his Parlour Arcana EP via Leaving Records. Jones is a former member of the post-rock band This Will Destroy You and since leaving that band he has pursued his own solo projects and DJing, as well as work with artists like Francine Thirteen, Lily Taylor, Sudie, and the Danielle Georgiou Dance Group. The first-born son of Pentecostal ministers, Donovan’s work is influenced by the power of music to induce trance and spiritual awakening.
Often performing with only a Vibraphone and cassette decks, Jones intersects antiquated techniques with a forward-thinking take on bass and beats. On “Balladet,” off Parlour Arcana, the musician combines dusty sounding orchestral loops with a booming low end and stuttering rhythms. The video for the track is directed by Brian Tomerlin, who regularly contributes live visuals at Dallas Ambient Music Nights events. Tomerlin’s abstracted imagery is full of vibrant color and lo-fi texture, and on “Balladet” his beat triggered combinations of the two create explosions of color and glitched patterning.
