For Now is out now!
Image: Zac Barkway.
New Zealand-born musician, Alijoscha has unveiled his sophomore album, For Now. To celebrate the release, the musician is taking MILKY through the release track by track!
Across the body of work, the musician crafts abstract soundscapes built upon dynamic percussion, slinky synth work and captivating guitar lines. Recorded over a five year period across five countries, For Now brings together Alijoscha's multi-faceted influences into one succinct body of work that allows space for contemplation driven by rhythmic and textural patterns.
24 HOUR FLOWER
Definitely a favourite on the album. This song was originally demoed for another recording project called ¡Mosquito! The formula for a ¡Mosquito! song is to pick an interesting scale and time signature and then improv the hell out of it. The song really came alive after I sent it to my saxophonist friend, and ex-band mate, Cayn Borthwick who proceeded to also improv the hell out of it. Cayn is amazing, check out his projects NOZU and Cong Josie.
FIZZY MUD
This track ended up being recorded across 3 different countries. That was never the intention but I spent a couple of years moving around a lot and always had some microphones, pedals, a keyboard and an interface, so any spare moment was spent recording. The drums were tracked at a studio in Sooriya Village, Sri Lanka. Some of the keys were recorded in a public library in Malaga, Spain. And the rest was done at Persimmon HQ in Melbourne, with Zac Barkway on synth. I really like how it turned out. It kinda just vibes for a while but doesn't really go anywhere.
QEEN_QEEN
The keys for this were also recorded in that same public library in Malaga. I spent a lot of time recording there because I was looking for work at the time and it was the perfect escape from job-hunting. I tried busking with my sampler, playing through little computer speakers that I'd plugged in via an extension cable running from my 3rd floor apartment down to the main plaza. At the time I was listening to a lot of Black Moth Super Rainbow. This song also just vibes for a while and doesn't go anywhere. (Theme emerging?)
SUN ONION
Another international number. This one was assembled in Oaxaca, Mexico. The pitched percussion sounds came from samples I found on the computer I was using which were labelled 'Ghost Drum' (*spooky*) and the drum recording came from the studio sessions I did at Sooriya Village back in Sri Lanka. I stayed in a little shack high on a hill at a nudist beach for about 3 months. Along with a bunch of iguanas, scorpions, vultures, woodpeckers and my future wife. Again; vibes hard, goes nowherrre.
RESERVOIR DOGS
The instrumental part of Reservoir Dogs is from an improvised jam I had with my friend Tom Baker. We'd been out at a gig and came back to my place at around 3am where I had a recording set up. The recordings from that night definitely have a particular 'duende'. The vocal part comes courtesy of my friend Stingray after he sent me a voice memo containing a very cerebral synopsis of the film Reservoir Dogs. I still don't know why he sent me that but the duende was immediately recognizable and it ended up on the song.
STICKY EGG
This instrumental came from that same jam I had with Tom. I wanted to record an intro for it with my car horn so I ran a condenser mic out into the yard, as close to my car as I could get. You can hear some birds that were sitting in the persimmon tree outside the studio, as well as the neighbour sneezing, and a very squeaky gate. The vocals on this track were from a cassette tape I lent to my friend Manisha Anjali during one of the lockdowns. She returned it with some other wordly poetry / spoken word that was quite detuned and distorted. Perfect. There's also a sample from some mystery tapes I bought off the internet for a reel to reel machine. One of them had recordings of what sounds like street noise with intervals of quite intense indian music. I assumed it may have been recorded for film. So again, a lot of found sounds and field recordings on this one.
PEAK DENGUE
Peak Dengue was originally demoed as a Spermaids song, which explains why it's the heaviest song on the album. It never found a home with Spermaids so I adopted it to live with my assorted lost and found songs that vibe hard but go nowhere.
THINK GREEN THOUGHTS
If you drive towards a red light you can change it to green by simply thinking green thoughts. Works every time.
For Now is out now!