Description
The lightning rod for Alabaster DePlume’s luminous follow up to the widely-acclaimed 2020 release To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 was personal. “Someone was going through a thing,” says the Mancunian poet-performer. “I said, ‘go forward in the courage of your love’. And then I thought 'yeah, that's what I need to hear as well’.”
Gold is a sonorous double album that celebrates the communal act of making music and the relationships that can be explored when you purposefully avoid the standard way of doing things.
It contains filmic pieces that oscillate between the otherworldly and the trenchantly grounded, rendered maximally human through the recording process. There is laughter mid-track and studio chatter. There is the music of shouting and applause generated by a handful of people who were listening from the doorframe and the corridor. Complex vocal harmonies circle the songs like small birds and there’s an undercurrent of steely toughness, necessitated by the musician’s engagement with personal vulnerability and collective politics.
releases April 1, 2022
Composed and Arranged by Alabaster DePlume, except "Fucking Let Them," "Again," "Broken Like," all "Visitors" pieces and "People: What’s the Difference?" composed by Alabaster DePlume and the musicians present.
Alabaster DePlume – tenor sax, guitar, synths and voice
Falle Nioke – voice, percussion
Rozi Plain – guitar
Sarathy Korwar – drums, tabla
Tom Skinner – drums
Kenichi Iwasa – percussion
James Howard – guitar
Tom Herbert – double bass
Natalie Pela – voice
Rosa Slade – voice
Elly Condron – voice
Luisa Gerstein – voice
Matt Webb – double bass
Michael Chestnutt – synths
Ursula Russell – drums
Conrad Singh – guitar
Hannah Miller – cello and voice
Donna Thompson – voice
Paddy Steer – synths and percussion
Danalogue – voice and synths
Matthew Bourne – piano
Dilip Harris – Small clone and mimeophon
Produced by Alabaster DePlume.
Engineered by Kristian Craig Robison at Total Refreshment Centre.
Mixed by Dilip Harris.
Mastered by Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering Service.
Artwork by Raimund Wong.
Photography by Chris Almeida.
Scan of the map by Fabrice Bourgelle.
Layout and insert design by Craig Hansen.
Special consultation on production and mix engineer from Danalogue.
Sequencing consultation from Scottie McNiece.
Titling consultation from poet Chris Almeida.
Management consultation from Stephen Bass.
Special thanks to Donna, Megan, and all the special ones. The people who contacted me directly about 'To Cy & Lee' (and my work in general) contributed to this album. The community of the Total Refreshment Centre, and Peach, International Anthem, Lost Map, Tucker & Yuppies Music, Smugglers, and countless others make this work what it is.
