#chaz prymek

[dustedmagazine]

Lake Mary — Slow Grass (Whited Sepulchre)

Slow Grass by Lake Mary

Grief is an unkind muse, but it is also a motivating one. The pain of loss has inspired countless artists from across every medium to process their emotions creatively. Loss comes in many forms, all of them palpable, and coping with it is an inescapable task. It’s a bitter irony that grief begets beauty. 

For Chaz Prymek, who records as Lake Mary, it was the loss of his faithful canine companion Favorite that inspired Slow Grass. A graceful and endearing suite, it is a testament to the bond between human and dog, a rumination on the life of a loved one. Some of Prymek’s closest musician friends join him in this elegy. Patrick Shiroishi and Chris Jusell, Prymek’s bandmates in the ECM-inspired jazz combo Fuubutsushi are present, as is Paul DeHaven from the Lake Mary-associated Ranch Family Band. Prymek gets by with a little help from his friends.

Slow Grass is split across two sides of vinyl into a pair of distinct movements, each of which evokes a different stage in Prymek’s relationship with Favorite. The title track is a smoldering 20-minute opus that reflects on the final days that they spent together. Favorite had limited mobility, so they would often lay in the grass for extended periods. This was in 2020, and after recording the piece, Prymek shared it with Shiroishi, who added saxophone and vocals. Prymek’s guitar style changes as the music unfolds. He begins in a meditative mode, the sparse notes and chords forming a skeletal arrangement that hangs in the air. He then employs a slide, thoughtfully working out a delicate melody through glissando. This culminates in a flurry of chiming steel as Prymek hammers his strings in rapid succession. As the piece progresses from seed to shoot to flowering plant, Shiroishi emotes with both his saxophone and his voice. The juxtaposition of guitar against voice and horn amidst a backdrop of field recordings conjures a considerable emotional heft. Shiroishi’s voice itself is heart-wrenching, and together he and Prymek exhibit constructive interference: the poignancy grows exponentially.  

“So Long Favorite” comprises the B side of the LP and showcases a guitar style that Prymek employed early in his career, around the time he and Favorite first became companions. He exposes his roots in the Takoma school of fingerpicking, weaving knotty figures and sanguine melodies with his instrument. Jusell, Shiroishi, and DeHaven join him on this journey through the past. Jusell’s violin and DeHaven’s synth intertwine vine-like around each other as Prymek’s guitar rings out alongside Shiroishi’s gossamer voice. This is grief at its most tender and vulnerable; it’s a gorgeous piece of music, a fitting requiem for Favorite, and a reminder for all of us to hold our loved ones close.  

Bryon Hayes

[trevlad-sounds]

Invisible Waves 023

09.06.2024

Intro 00:00 Jessica Ackerley, Chaz Prymek, Nick Turner-Walking the Night 00:12 Chapter 1 03:12 Futuregrapher-Andleggja 09:08 Chapter 2 12:36 Trem 77-Topography 18:13 Moray Newlands-Esmerelda 20:32 Chapter 3 24:13 gribbles-Childer 32:50 David Douglas & Applescal-Trial of Truth 36:14 Chapter 4 40:55 Ulises Labaronnie-Aonken – Part VII 46:14 The Metamorph-The Sculpture Room 51:17 Outro 53:54

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Shiroishi, Prymek, Nguyen - Eventually the River Rises Here Too, Same as it Always Has

Over on Aquarium Drunkard last week, I scribbled some words about Meridians, the new Fuubutsushi record — a record you should own! You should also own this one, which features 2/4 of the 'sushi gang (Patrick Shiroishi and Chaz Prymek) plus drummer Thom Nguyen. Recorded live a few years back at the Columbia Experimental Music Fest, Eventually consists of two lengthy improvs, the trio searching restlessly for the sound. Prymek sets things off with nervous/nervy guitar work, Shiroishi adding deep sax tones, Nguyen skittering along, pushing things forward. There's an almost funereal feel, an elegy for a fallen world — though there are moments of pure ecstatic beauty, too.

[luuurien]

Lake Mary - Slow Grass

(Ambient Americana, Chamber Jazz, Contemporary Folk)

Spacious and aching, Chaz Prymek's latest release as Lake Mary is a heavenly combination of pastoral field recordings and thoughtful instrumentation, weaving lonely chamber jazz and melancholy folk around generous helpings of birdsong and natural ambiance. Slow Grass' defiance of sorrow allows it to hold close painful memories in the most beautiful ways.

☆☆☆☆☆

Slow Grass is about presence above anything. From the 20-minute runtime of its two pieces to how Chaz Prymek uses that time, the album embraces its ambient influences not just in sound but in its essence, refusing to make every moment a directly engaging one and ensuring there's ample space for the music to just breathe. It's not all too surprising, given Prymek's background in groups like Fuubutsushi and their gentle chamber jazz and The Spinnaker Ensemble's soothing new age/folk combinations, but his work as Lake Mary stands out with its sensitivity and raw emotion, the negative space between every guitar line or string drone given just as strong a meaning as the instrumental elements that shape each piece, Slow Grass not only a masterful piece of ambient folk but one of Prymek's most personal, founded on the relationship with his late dog Favorite the past fourteen years of her life and how their time spent together during her declining health brought him new perspective and unimaginable heartbreak. It's an album not only about loss but how important it is to give love and tenderness a place to grow within that empty space. The first of its two sides and the title track, Slow Grass sounds more like the last droplets from a rainy cloud than any genres the album finds itself around. Pushed forward by recordings of water and birdsong alongside Prymek's lightfooted fingerpicked guitar and Patrick Shiroishi's gentle clarinet melody (Shiroishi also brings saxophone, vocals and percussion), the title track's earliest moments are about patience and grace, Shiroishi's serene singing falling into place among the vibrant natural ambiance surrounding him and Prymek. There's a heightened sense of surprise and wonder to the moments Prymek does let his guitar ring out as long as it needs to, occasionally hammering hard on the strings to pull a harsh metallic punch out of them or playing with vibrato and how it subtly shapes a note as it continues to fade, Slow Grass so acutely aware of everything happening around it that you can start to feel like the music is an ecosystem of its own, capable of change and surviving on its own spirit regardless of if you're around to witness it or not. Considering all this, Slow Grass' final seven minutes becomes both a cathartic release and a testament to Prymek's gorgeous musicianship, noise slowly washing in as he whams down on his guitar like a dulcimer until enough commotion has been made for Paul Dehaven's synths to explode like midnight fireworks and Shiroishi's signature saxophone improvisations to sweep across the piece like a shooting star in slow motion, so much energy and passion and thrill coming out of absolutely nowhere and all the more precious for it. Both sides of Slow Grass are essential to the album's success, but it's this first opening piece that lays the framework for the second half's tenderness and defiance. So Long Favorite, the album's second half and a heartbreaking memorialization of his late dog Favorite, refuses to let sorrow be its leader. It's so soft and lush in ways music about loss rarely is, Prymek's eternal paradise for Favorite built with the help of Shiroishi's aforementioned instrumentation and Chris Jusell's heavenly string arrangements with such pure love and generosity poured into every second. That's not to say any sadness or heartache isn't present throughout So Long Favorite's 19-minute runtime, but it's not the kind of sadness that presses you down into the dirt and keeps you from moving forward, Prymek's sturdy and secure guitar work the sunlight that Jusell's flowery strings and Shiroishi's pastoral woodwinds need to cultivate the space Prymek needs for his late best friend. I would be lying if I didn't say that the loss of my own dogs in the past wasn't a massive reason why So Long Favorite took me places few other pieces of music can even get close to, but even for those who've never had pets there's an inherent vulnerability and ache to it you can't pull away from. It's so simply beautiful and to the point with how much Favorite means to Prymek and how strongly the music embodies her spirit and Prymek's love for her, and nothing more is needed for So Long Favorite to hold me at an emotional breaking point nothing else this year has. Slow Grass is not only heartfelt and tender, but defiantly so, Prymek sheltering the memories and emotions he holds dear and not letting grief overtake him, making music so sentimental and full of warmth to materialize his grief without letting it drown him. His treatment of painful memories and heartbreak with positivity and hope is nothing short of stunning, and Slow Grass only proves itself more beautiful for it, able to handle such difficult feelings with the grace and understanding of the natural world Prymek pulls so much inspiration from. Prymek's music always serves as a conduit for his emotions with nothing to get in the way of it, and Slow Grass does a perfect job containing all the love and tears and mementos Prymek and his dog will forever have with one another. Loss is always a terrible thing, but Slow Grass makes a case for endless joy and remembrance in the face of it.

[musicarenagh]

When Words Bleed: The Introspective Genius of Icarus Phoenix The latest album from Icarus Phoenix "I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said" is a tattered journal page, creased and dog-eared from folding and refolding—the words bleed into the margins. It is messy and beautiful in this kind of lyrical introspection that will make one scream, cry, and maybe even laugh a little. https://open.spotify.com/album/6DlyKwy6RV8PlWpyCE7tH4?si=5kPorEyeS9yCRL5aMvThGA Songwriting with Drew Danburry masters the subtle weaving of strands on divorce, co-parenting, and identity crises into a tapestry deeply personal yet universally relatable. The music itself is a smoldering fire of guitar-driven rock and ambient noise swirling together in a maelstrom of emotions. It's the sound that crawls under your skin and doesn't let go, like that tattoo you didn't know you needed. Drums from Eli Sims that pump like a heartbeat; most texture, most depth, comes courtesy of Leena Rhodes's guitar work; the bass lines of Brendan Russell are what glue it all together. [caption id="attachment_56708" align="alignnone" width="1158"] When Words Bleed: The Introspective Genius of Icarus Phoenix[/caption] But probably what really lets this album rise head and shoulders above the competition is its willingness to gaze into the darkness with full-frontal vision. Danburry's lyrics are something akin to a series of Polaroids, each capturing a moment in time, a feeling, a thought. They're fragmented, impressionistic—and utterly compelling. He doesn't fear to get messy, to explore complexities of human emotion, or to find beauty within brokenness. Producer Jed Jones really has to be applauded for getting the best out of the band, and guest appearances by Jake Bellows, Justin Pacheco, Andrew Young, Chaz Prymek, and Rocky Cordray add welcome depth and variety. It's as if the album were speaking to you, at one and the same time, in tones that are at once intimate and expansive. Like when you're sitting on the porch with a close friend, watching the sun begin to set behind the farthest hills, and talking about things that matter. It's like. well, really, it's like nothing else. [caption id="attachment_56707" align="alignnone" width="1152"] When Words Bleed: The Introspective Genius of Icarus Phoenix[/caption] These themes of rebuilding and redemption come rather opportune. When we are constantly bombarded with positivities of 'you can do it' and self-empowerment, it's refreshing to hear an album that tells it's okay not to be okay in the dark. Those things that tell us healing is a process and not a destination—sometimes the best way to move on is to look back, right on time. Basically, "I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said" does what one needs an album to do: makes one feel seen, heard, and maybe a little healed. It's proof that music can soothe the soul, be a way of processing the intricacies of feelings, and how to become light again. Follow Icarus Phoenix on Bandcamp, YouTube, Instagram, SongKick and TikTok.

[softcairn]

~soft cairn~ by Chaz Prymek 2023

[burlveneer-music]

Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi - Yamawarau (山笑う) - new spring-themed album from this ECM-inspired quartet (cachedmedia)

Spring rises from the ground like a spirit full of light and latent pollen. A mountain, laughing, covered in flowers. Yamawarau (山笑う) is the third in a four-part album cycle by Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, and Patrick Shiroishi… feel free to simply call this group “Fuubutsushi” if you so prefer. What began with their first album, Fuubutsushi, an autumnal ECM jazz suite, led to Setsubun, a warm place to hide from those too-long winter nights. As Spring breaks, the quartet have continued to refine their signature sound, to expand their mutual vocabulary, and to take playful risks together, all while maintaining their social distance.

This collection feels connected to their previous albums, but also feels different; vocal harmonies appear at the center of several songs, both wordlessly and sung beautifully in Japanese. Though still approximately “jazz” these songs feel more like a kind of campfire circled by the players. They are propulsive in places, meditative in others, often dynamic, but profoundly radiating light. What has been said before about this quartet remains true: they collectively cultivate a tenderness when playing together. That tenderness comes from patience, from foregrounding a sense of play, from leaving space and from finding joy in the act of creation as a group. Yamawarau is just that, a joy in cultivation, a smile full of new blossoms.

Chris Jusell: violin, voice Chaz Prymek: guitar, bass, clarinet, synths, samples Matthew Sage: keyboards, percussion, voice, acoustic guitar, field recordings Patrick Shiroishi: trombone, guitar, glockenspiel, tenor and alto sax, laptop, samples, voice   

[frankwaxman]

Fuubutsushi, Shiki (Cached Media, 2021) Chris Jusell - Violin Chaz Prymek - Guitar, Bass Guitar, Lapsteel Guitar Matthew Sage - Piano, Synthesizers, Autoharp Patrick Shiroishi - Saxophones, Wind Synth, Glockenspiel, Voice ‘How working remotely brought Fuubutsushi together’ _ Chicago Reader

[soundaslanguage]

Best of February 2021

February was an insane month with so much good music coming out. It was extremely difficult to whittle this list down to ten so I included some great honorable mentions at the bottom as well.

Adeline Hotel - Good Timing (Ruination)

- Adeline Hotel returns quickly on the heels of their amazing Solid Love LP. This time Dan Knishkowy goes solo for an instrumental guitar album that shows off his impressive range.

https://adelinehotel.bandcamp.com/album/good-timing

Marsha Fisher - New Ruins (Full Spectrum)

- Covered this one here. A fascinating ambient/drone listen.

https://fullspectrumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/new-ruins

Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi - Setsubun (節分) (Cached Media)

- The foursome of Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, and Patrick Shiroishi waste no time following up 2020’s outstanding Fuubutsushi with another beautiful set of ambient jazz.

https://cachedmedia.bandcamp.com/album/setsubun

The National Park Service - (This Is Not) The End (Self-Released)

- Covered this one here. Slowly unfolding ambient guitar folk/rock.

https://thenationalparkservice.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-not-the-end

Night Sky Body - Recurring (Self-Released)

- Wrote about this one here. Beautiful and fragile.

https://nightskybody.bandcamp.com/album/recurring

Picnic - Picnic (Daisart)

- We are living in a great time if you get down with abstract ambient dub. Picnic bring out the big guests (Dntel, Huerco S.) and everyone delivers on this debut full-length.

https://daisart.bandcamp.com/album/picnic

Pontiac Streator - Select Works Vol. II (Self-Released)

- Pontiac Streator’s excellent Select Works Vol. I dropped in February of 2020. Vol. II follows a year later and the quality is equally superb and haunting. Let’s hope these volumes keep on flowing from the mysterious ambient dub maestro.

https://pontiacstreator.bandcamp.com/album/select-works-vol-ii

Sloping - Completed Songs (sound as language)

- Wrote about this one here. sound as language release number three. Enough said.

https://sloping.bandcamp.com/album/completed-songs

Talons’ - New Nightmares (Self-Released)

- Mike Tolan is back with yet another Talons’ release, this time on the noisier side of things compared to last year’s quieter Make America Again. Whatever volume he’s going for, I am way down for the pace of one new Talons’ record a year.

https://talons.bandcamp.com/album/new-nightmares

Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights (Royal Mountain)

- Covered this one here. Wild Pink and John Ross really can do no wrong.

https://wildpink.bandcamp.com/album/a-billion-little-lights

=====

Honorable Mentions:

Claude Speeed, Cofaxx, Josh Mason, Other Nothing, Jackson Ryland, Pauline Anna Strom, Andrew Tuttle & Padang Food Tigers, Karima Walker, Virginia Wing, Nana Yamato

[noloveforned]

tune into wlur at 8pm tonight to hear this week's show live or catch up with last week's show below!

no love for ned on wlur – october 15th, 2021 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label the runaways // rock 'n roll // the runaways // mercury rabbit // gone gone gone // gone 7" // rough skies the shadracks // plastic lives // the shadracks // damaged goods upper wilds // love song #3 // venus // thrill jockey cochonne // asking for a friend // emergency ep // sorry state prison affair // encerrado contigo (en la prisión) // split 7" w/ research reactor corp. // under the gun vera ellen // you! // it's your birthday // flying nun honey radar // consult the napkin // split 7" w/ violent change // chunklet fastbacks // another thing coming // now is the time // no threes boyracer // more of you // more of you digital single // shambotic julia shapiro // someone // zorked // suicide squeeze * sault // fear // nine // forever living originals thurston moore featuring bobby gillespie // heroin // i’ll be your mirror- a tribute to the velvet underground and nico // verve * ashley shadow featuring bonnie 'prince' billy // don’t slow me down // only the end // felte * doc watson and gaither carlton // he's coming to us dead // doc watson and gaither carlton // smithsonian folkways mountain man // holy father // made the harbor (deluxe edition) // psychic hotline patrick shiroishi, chris jusell, chaz prymek and matthew sage // suzushii kaze // natsukashii // cached media bevel // strange vessel // angler senses // astral editions luke stewart and jarvis earnshaw quartet // kenopsia // luke stewart and jarvis earnshaw quartet // no quarter phil ranelin // infinite expressions // infinite expressions // org music jim marks // rhythm is accenting time // touch your feelings // Nicole dos santos // city of mirrors // city of mirrors // international anthem bobby valentín // bad breath // it's a good, good feeling- the latin soul of fania records (the singles) compilation // craft samm henshaw // grow // untidy soul // dorm seven snoh aalegra // i didn't mean to fall in love // ugh, those feels again // artium blu // mr. blu(e) // the color blu(e) // dirty science orion sun // concrete // getaway ep // mom + pop pond // toast // nine // spinning top * holy hive // golden crown // holy hive // big crown skirts // dayspell // great big wild oak // double double whammy tears to go // patronizing self-help // patronizing self-help // i need some company josephine network // me and my boys // music is easy // dig! kero kero bonito // fish bowl (frankie cosmos remix) // bonito retakes (remixes) - ep // (self-released)

* denotes music on wlur’s playlist

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Lake Mary

An avid outdoorsperson, Chaz Prymek releases his musical output under the name Lake Mary in honor of the eponymous reservoir in Big Cottonwood Canyon, located in his birth state of Utah.  Being somewhat of a nomad, he has called many American states home, and currently resides in Missouri.  Over the course of his travels, Prymek has collected friends and collaborators, such that Lake Mary evolved from a solo undertaking into a loose collective of like-minded souls.  On Slow Grass, he enlisted a trio of his closest musical companions to honor the life of his recently departed dog, Favorite. In a recent review, Bryon Hayes commented that the record was “[a] graceful and endearing suite, it is a testament to the bond between human and dog, a rumination on the life of a loved one.”  For this edition of Listed, Prymek explores the songs and poems that inspire him to reflect on life, love, and loss.    

Airport People “From Morning no. 1” 

from nine mornings by airport people

There is a quiet revolution happening of more and more people putting sincerity into music again, I know it's always been there, in the way that everything has always been everything, but it seems like either it's becoming easier to find, or maybe I'm softening as I age, or sincerity is in, either way... You can hear the heart of Leon in this album, it feels so sincere to me and found me at the perfect time. I didn't know I needed this album so I could do a lot of healing work, it made space for me to grow into the changes that were happening in my life at the time, it quickly became one of my all time favorite and deeply important records. I got to play with them over this summer and I swear to you the whole room turned shades of violet and yellows and red, like the sun was rising right inside that venue.

Quelle Chris “Ain't Always Living”

DEATHFAME by Quelle Chris

This song stayed on in my car for months this summer. It made its way into my world at just the right time. Learning to love yourself and develop self-worth is an epic journey, especially under capitalism. With what little time we have between work and sleep, we try our best to love and accept love, it doesn't always stick though. We all go through so much in our home lives, we fall in love, we make new friends, we end relationships, we die, our friends die, lose jobs, we protest, we make art we want to share with the world, we plant gardens, we build communities, we cook for our friends and families, we sing songs, we dance, we exhaust ourselves trying to be alive outside work. This song became a constant reminder to look around at what and who is in my life, and to cherish that while it's here.

Ben Seretan “Light Leaks” 

Ben Seretan by Ben Seretan

Ben has made so much music since this came out. All of it is mind blowing and life affirming. However, this song has got me through so many big transitions in my life, over and over. I've learned time and time again from Ben's music, that the heart has to break to let the light in. That's what this song can do, break your heart and put it back together again. This track is a part of me now.

I got to sing this song with him at a show in Brooklyn and sobbed the whole time.

Vera Jean “New Sleep” 

Door 1995 by Louise DeCramer

Sometimes you meet someone once who sticks with you forever. They make their way into your heart quickly and softly, and they make a home there. Sometimes you don't even notice until it's already happened. It's not anyone's purposeful doing, it's not anyone's fault or intent. It's just one of those things. Vera Jean (Louise) has done just that. These albums have soundtracked many long drives back from the farm or swimming holes, the car is silent and grinning with exhaustion... 

There is a different kind of way joy hits when you've lost.

Maya Weeks “Tethers” 

Tethers by Maya Weeks

This album took me back to when I lived on the north coast. It feels like the walk to the coast, over shrubs and between conifers and pillows of fog, revealing a cold, wild and welcoming ocean. Exploring tide pools, poking at urchins, skipping rocks and harvesting kelp and mussels for dinner. It floored me when I first heard it, still does.

Ross Gay & Bon Iver “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” 

Dilate Your Heart by Ross Gay

I haven't listened to this without weeping.

What I Didn’t Know Before by Ada Limón 

was how horses simply give birth to other

horses. Not a baby by any means, not

a creature of liminal spaces, but already

a four-legged beast hellbent on walking,

scrambling after the mother. A horse gives way

to another horse and then suddenly there are

two horses, just like that. That’s how I loved you.

You, off the long train from Red Bank carrying

a coffee as big as your arm, a bag with two

computers swinging in it unwieldily at your

side. I remember we broke into laughter

when we saw each other. What was between

us wasn’t a fragile thing to be coddled, cooed

over. It came out fully formed, ready to run.

____________

This poem has been read back and forth between myself and some friends as a way to say I'm thinking of you or taking you with me.

Reconocimiento // Acknowledgement by Alejandra Pizarnik 

Tu haces el silencio de las lilas que aletean

en mi tragedia del viento en el corazón.

Tu hiciste de mi vida un cuento para niños

en donde naufragios y muertes

son pretextos de ceremonias adorables 

// 

You made the silence of the lilacs fluttering

in the tragedy of wind that is in my heart.

You turned my life into a children's tale

where shipwrecks and death

are an excuse for a beloved ceremonies. 

____________ 

When I read this once, it clicked and this book opened up to me. I read this poem aloud to Emma in the park the other day and it silenced us both. I could write many records about what this paints in my head.

People by Yevgeny Yevtushenko  

No people are uninteresting.

Their fate is like the chronicle of planets.

 Nothing in them is not particular,

and planet is dissimilar from planet.

 And if a man lived in obscurity

making his friends in that obscurity

obscurity is not uninteresting.

 To each his world is private,

and in that world one excellent minute.

 And in that world one tragic minute.

These are private.

 In any man who dies there dies with him

his first snow and kiss and fight.

It goes with him.

 There are left books and bridges

and painted canvas and machinery.

Whose fate is to survive.

 But what has gone is also not nothing:

by the rule of the game something has gone.

Not people die but worlds die in them.

 Whom we knew as faulty, the earth’s creatures

Of whom, essentially, what did we know?

 Brother of a brother? Friend of friends?

Lover of lover?

 We who knew our fathers

in everything, in nothing.

 They perish. They cannot be brought back.

The secret worlds are not regenerated.

 And every time again and again

I make my lament against destruction. 

____________ 

I have been thinking about this poem for years. You can think you know most things about somebody, until their funeral. As you watch people you've never met come and say how much this same person meant to them, stories you've never heard, then sharing making friends because you have lived on two sides of the same world. You can start to see one world fade and a new one begin in the light still shining from this person's universe that was and is much bigger than you ever expected.

Mary Oliver— Dog Songs

“You may not agree, you may not care, but

if you are holding this book you should know that of all the sights I love in this world,

and there are plenty,

very near the top of the list is this one:

dogs without leashes.” 

_______________ 

This book is so special to me. I would read this aloud to my pup for years before she passed away. 

Thank ya'll for having me. 

I hope someone can find something in here to resonate with.

[playongivemeexcessofit]

Yamawarau 🀦

Yamawarau (山笑う) is the third in a four-part album cycle by Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, and Patrick Shiroishi. The quartet have continued to refine their signature ambient jazz sound, edging into pastoral and lyrical tones.

Though still approximately “jazz” these songs feel more like a kind of campfire circled by the players. They are propulsive in places, meditative in others, often dynamic, but profoundly radiating light.  

Yamawarau (山笑う) by Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Lake Mary & pinyonpine - it's okay, you can open your eyes now

Chaz Prymek (AKA Lake Mary) can be tough to keep up with, whether he's on his own, with Fuubutsushi or collaborating with a wide array of talented artists. This latest release falls in the latter category, finding the multi-faceted Prymek teaming up with pinyonpine (AKA Tj Nelson, a Salt Lake City-based filmmaker). Together, Lake Mary and pinyonpine have created some seriously blissed out sounds — two sidelong reveries that drift into the heavens. Gentle lap steel, harmonious electronics, some kinda instrument called a Cocoquantus ... it's okay, you can open your eyes now is music that feels uplifting and restorative, embodying its title perfectly.

[musicmakesyousmart]

Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, & Patrick Shiroishi - Natsukashii (懐かしい)

Cached Media

2021

[burlveneer-music]

Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroishi - Natsukashii (懐かしい) - that last post reminded me that I forgot to post this conclusion to their seasonal album cycle

Summer hovers, suspended in the air; a humid dance of light and heat and the longest days of the year. A fond memory of the present as the mercury rises. In the final entry into the seasonal series by Fuubutsushi -- Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, and Patrick Shiroishi -- nostalgia basks under a tree, naps on the beach, roams the desert, and ends the evening in a cool rainshower. Natsukashii (懐かしい) -- translating to “nostalgic” -- completes the cycle that this group began with their now eponymous album Fuubutsushi, and it is just that, a highly retrospective collection of songs that captures the same magics that have appeared across the last year of work this group has created. Maintaining their social distancing methodologies, these four musicians have established an approach that has proved highly functional for them in making what has equated to now nearly three and a half hours of music; they have learned how to build songs remotely together. They have honed their sound here, a sound that is many things; comforting, expansive, playful, curious, fun, nostalgic, introspective. Dabbling with many genres (ECM, ambient, jazz, new music, folk, neoclassical, post-rock) to create a sound all their own, this summer album sees the group present some of their most narrative work to date, which is to say, in this summer sound they tell a story. The four members of the group thank everyone who has spent this tumultuous year with this music. The reactions to this project have been truly overwhelming. There will be more from this group in the future… eventually. For now, please enjoy Natsukashii.

chris jusell: violin, cello, vibraphone, marimba chaz prymek: bass, guitars, strumstick, field recordings matthew sage: keyboards, percussion, voice, harmonica, moog matriarch, guitars patrick shiroishi: alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones, clarinet, glockenspiel, samples, voice, banjo, electronics