CLEVER AUSTIN – PAREIDOLIA [TOUCHING BASS / WONDERCORE ISLAND]

Morning Mari*‘s album of the week for this week is Clever Austin‘s ‘Pareidolia’ out on Touching Bass on the 15th of March. You can hear this album throughout the week on Ambient Morning with Ceylan.

London’s Touching Bass are excited to be collaborating with Melbourne’s Wondercore Island to present ‘Pareidolia’ — the ​debut album from self-taught, multi-instrumentalist producer and Hiatus Kaiyote drummer, Clever Austin​ (aka Perrin Moss).

Born near the Blue Mountains in Australia and originally a hip-hop producer, Moss counts some of the world’s most acclaimed drummers and producers as his fans ​(Questlove, Pharrell Williams, Erykah Badu, Chris Daddy Dave, Flying Lotus)​.

Much like his ​Grammy-nominated work for HK​, ​Pareidolia​ is a genre-bending sonic and emotive pilgrimage with virtuosic, percussive groove at its core. Conceived via countless nights in his home studio, it dreamily roams across 16 tracks which slowly unravel with the cinematic feel of a movie; all mixed and self-produced over a period of three years.

Guest appearances are spontaneous, late night drop-ins, cross town musical crossovers and moments of respect paid to established and emerging innovators. Touching Bass are proud to be the first UK label to introduce the mesmeric talents of Texas native, ​Jon Bap​ on first single “Blue Tongue”.

Elsewhere, fresh from her well-received 2018 release on ​Brainfeeder​, ​Georgia Anne Muldrow​ blesses “You Are All You Need” with her mercurial voice. Closer to home, ​Cazeaux O.S.L.O​’s baritone spoken word grounds “Mothership Strip” and Brisbane-born multidisciplinary artist, Laneous​ (aka Lachlan Mitchell) croons on “Catapult”.

As with most organic collaborations, the label connection was a result of sheer serendipity. Touching Bass founder, Errol, has been following Clever Austin and the Wondercore Island mixtape series since 2013. But it took until 2018 — during their debut Australia/Japan tour — for him and Alex Rita to make their own way to Melbourne.

One night, following on from a Touching Bass event, the pair got involved in a late night jam session at Clever Austin’s studio with ​Lori, Silent Jay ​and​ Mandarin Dreams’ Kuzich​. “We were all bigging up and sharing music made by friends in our respective homelands but when Perrin started playing his own project, everyone was just in silence. He’d crafted something that was equal parts peculiar, innovative and so beautiful that it brought us to tears. That’s when we knew it was special.”

Pareidolia further cements a trans-global cultural exchange between the soulful sounds emanating from Melbourne and London.

Also, don’t miss the Clever Austin show on Thursday at 1PM (BST).

Tracklist:

Digital:
1. Mist
2. Unipvich
3. Speckle
4. Blue Tongue (ft. Jon Bap)
5. Planet Viewing
6. Speckle Pt.2
7. Dime Head
8. Doves
9. Catapult (ft. Laneous)
10. Hedgehog
11. Mothership Strip (ft. CAZEAUX O.S.L.O.)
12. Ark
13. Higher Plains
14. You Are All You Need (ft. Georgia Anne Muldrow)
15. Sazeq
16. Utopia

Physical:
1. Mist
2. Unipvich
3. Speckle
4. Blue Tongue (ft. Jon Bap)
5. Speckle Pt.2
6. Dime Head
7. Doves
8. Catapult (ft. Laneous)
9. Mothership Strip (ft. CAZEAUX O.S.L.O.)
10. Ark
11. Higher Plains
12. You Are All You Need (ft. Georgia Anne Muldrow)
13. Utopia

Credits:
All compositions written, arranged and mixed by Perrin Moss with help from the following friends (tracks refer to digital tracklisting):
Alejandro Abapo — saxophone (3)
Simon Mavin — upright piano (11)
Jimmy Bowman — trombone (11)
Taylor Crawford — frello (12, 16)
Tom Mansfield — electric guitar (13)
Paul Bender — acoustic guitar (13)

Mastered by Dan Elleson
Cover Painting — Judi Moss
Art Direction — Errol Anderson, Alex Rita
Executive Producer(s) — Si Jay Gould, Alex Rita, Errol Anderson