a set of paint-splatter improvisations scraped off the wall from when I was putting together Stages <3
Purchase by itself or bundled with a first edition cassette of Stages while supplies last.
Find Stages on Oxtail Recordings:
oxtailrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/stages
About Stages:
Finding inspiration in the in-between moments of his home bread making practice, Austin, Texas’ Walter Nichols (one-half of the electro-pop duo Emme) patiently unfurls a wonderland of sonic delights as Home Baker. Typically one doesn’t mention what else was going on in the room where a record was made, but the bread is not inconsequential here. Fermenting, rising, baking, cooling - these are all moments of transition: alive, vulnerable, and incomplete.
Taking this in-betweenness as a starting point, and change as a constant present, “Stages” playfully straddles the lines between ambient and pop, inner and outer, micro and macro. The record has a particular knack for turning musical conventions upside down: melodies wander more than than they lead; percussion fizzes more than it grooves; and vocals are atomized into stutters, breaths, and exclamations (“Oh mama!”). The other side of transition peeks through as well - seasons change, friends drift away, and time stops for no one. At times, the record’s sonic collage comes off as a sort of scrapbook, a collection of moments that trigger a flood of memories.
“Stages” is a one-of a kind record, guided intuitively and charmingly by Nichols’ genuine curiosity, fascination with details, and inclination to look past the obvious: to see a world in a grain of sand (or loaf of bread, as it were).
words by Mike Nigro
released October 30, 2020
recorded + mixed by Walter Nichols