What Is Not Strange? by Tashi Wada

 

Some events in our lives mark the moments of both grief, pain, joy and inspiration that stems from those. 

For Toshi Wada both passing away of his father and birth of his daughters are the landmarks of this record. Released in three lovely editions - it is a set of eleven tracks that are a thing of fantasy and wonder embalmed in an emotional form of surrealistic ponderings on nature of things.

Wada and employed musicians here are erudites who know exactly where are they going and slowly getting there.

Each song is a story itself.  through the means of the instruments involved there is a strong anthem quality to all of them but also the backdrop of the instrumental foreground is pretty intriguing. There is a tense and idiosyncratic experimentation before the foreground of vocals and melodies take over. Arranged in a way that is both evocative and linear - it is perfectly designed for a listener to embrace the wholesomeness of this album.  

released June 7, 2024

All music written by Tashi Wada

The melody from “Calling” is based on a traditional Swedish herding call, or kulning, as sung by Elin Lisslass.

Ezra Buchla – viola, electric viola

Corey Fogel – drums, percussion

Devin Hoff – double bass

Julia Holter – vocals, additional keyboard

Tashi Wada – keyboards, sirens

Produced by Tashi Wada

Recorded by Chris Cohen

Additional recording by Tashi Wada, Julia Holter, and Ezra Buchla

Recorded in 2022-2023 at Tropico Beauty, Glendale, CA; Chris’ studio, Altadena, CA; UCI Percussion Studio, Irvine, CA; and the homes of the musicians in Los Angeles and Berkeley, CA

Mixed and mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung, Bonn, DE

Additional mixing by Tashi Wada

Vinyl cut by Dave Polster at Well Made Music, Bristol, VA

Photography by Dicky Bahto

Color correction by Julie Sadowski

Design by Will Work for Good

All music published by Saltern (ASCAP)

Julia Holter appears courtesy of Domino Recording Co. Ltd.

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