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The Cormorant

by J. Campbell

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  • J. Campbell - The Cormorant (LP)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition 12" vinyl

    Hand numbered copies come housed in a printed, high quality, paper fold covers

    VAKNAR 47

    Edition of 90

    Artwork by O.R

    Mastered by Angelo Harmsworth

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Cormorant via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Emerge Again 07:20
2.
Open Window 06:09
3.
4.
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7.
Visage 06:14

about

Following his former album ‘Heirloomʼ, which came out on E. Sagglia and Death Kneelʼs now defunct Summer Isle label in 2018, ‘The Cormorantʼ is the latest album by Australian native Jason Campbell.

After taking a year to complete, Campbell perceives ‘The Cormorantʼ as “a document of small-town Australia, concerned with the natural environment and the rugged coastline that I call home.”

The sounds of his native domain, the coastlines of New South Wales, are explored and dissected throughout the entire album, with ocean swells or conversations at the local food court are layered onto sequences of violin tremolos, detuned cymbals and delayed piano chords.

Throughout the albums run time, ‘The Cormorantʼ inhabits a distinctive sonic realm of its own, inhabited by sounds of ocean swells or conversations at the local food court, layered onto sequences of violin tremolos, detuned cymbals and delayed piano chords. The album begins with the highly vigorous ‘Emerge Againʼ, which features an accelerative volley of machine clatter and pitch shifted choruses, slowly merging into a bed of candid breaths and piano stabs. On the midway point, The album’s title track, ‘The Cormorantʼ presents itself as the albums definite, emotive underscore, while the pre-culminating reprieve ‘A Fallen Eucalyptʼ usher in the final stages of the journey.

In the end, each piece on ‘The Cormorant’ showcases a unique, riveting sonic investigation into J. Campbellʼs coastal home, yet the album is not merely about an introspective examination of one's topography, it’s the culmination of a truly sincere exploration, it’s a body of work about passion, existence and self- discovery.


PRESS:

(...) With The Cormorant being my introduction to the musical works of J. Campbell, this album has been on high rotation in recent months. An aching melancholia permeates all aspects of this album, where field records of gentle waves, floating synths, ebbing drones, and minimal static washes blend and interweave. The occasional use of sparse piano lines, violins and vocals interject a more direct melodious focus to proceedings, which generates a quite cinematic soundtrack-styled edge. More broadly, the pacing is slow and unhurried, where the compositional elements (field recordings, sparse atonal sonic clatter, melodious synth drones, and composed/processed instrumentation), are highly detailed and balanced, while the spacious widescreen production is of enveloping warmth, rather than cold detachment.

While the ambient and modern classical descriptors might be an overly dry assessment of what is sonically delivered, to this ear the overarching mood and atmosphere is strongly comparable to the dreamy ambient washes of Fennesz, as well as the more musically melancholy moments of Ben Frost’s recorded works. Yet, not wanting to be completely reductive on the basis of comparisons alone, these are mainly used to indicate the pinnacle musical level which The Cormorant inhabits. The physical edition vinyl is limited to a mere 90 copies, but also available digitally for wider distribution, particularly benefiting of an album that should be heard by a much wider audience.

-Noise Receptor

credits

released June 4, 2021

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VAAGNER Berlin, Germany

Vaagner/Vaknar
Est. 2018

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