download digital at highest quality, or buy limited edition signed & numbered edition of 100 (includes 12in x 8in 2 sided poster with download code alongside album art, and photograph of the band by Avraham Bank). https://1krecordings.bandcamp.com/album/channels

Channels (1k recordings, 1k042) — the debut release by three celebrated Philadelphia musicians John Swana, Tim Motzer, and Doug Hirlinger — is an album that immediately beckons and challenges the listener with evocative, multilayered electro-acoustic improvisations and compositions. Channels captures the unique energy and sonic chemistry between the players; the album’s dynamic tension also hints at today’s unresolved social, economic, political challenges. Questioning melodies and complex, brooding soundscapes are punctuated by free–jazz drumming. The record ebbs with harmonic drifts, languid electronic suspensions, and looping textural guitars and synths.

Channels originally began as a duo recording by Swana and Motzer. After a weekend of intensive, experimental improvisation at 1K Recordings in Philadelphia, they invited Hirlinger to respond on drums – which transformed the material. For several months afterward, Swana and Motzer pored over the live studio recordings, whittling down long-form improvisations and adding orchestral layers of brass to opening track “Lost.” Anthony Tidd (longtime member of Steve Coleman and Five Elements) contributed six-string, fretless electric bass melodies to “Drift” and “Channel.” The result is a uniquely intimate and urgent record – one that defies simple categorization and reveals its intriguing richness over time.

Album available at www.1krecordings.com, 1krecordings.bandcamp.com, and most digital outlets

Track listing:

1 Lost  2 Drift  3 Caravan  4 Out To Sea

5 Ashes  6 Channel  7 Oasis  8 Suspended

Personnel:

John Swana – EVI, valve trombone, trumpet, synth, electronics

Tim Motzer – acoustic-electric guitar, electronics, sampler, bass, percussion

Doug Hirlinger – drums

featuring

Anthony Tidd – bass (on “Drift” and “Channel”)

Recorded, mixed, and produced by Tim Motzer at 1k Recordings, Philadelphia

Music edited and arranged by John Swana and Tim Motzer

Mastered by Eric Bogacz at Spice House, Philadelphia

Album cover painting by Tim Motzer

Album design by Jason Waggaman

Photography by Avraham Bank

© 2018 & ℗ 2018 1k Recordings Inc.

Music published by one k music co. 2018 (BMI)

Music by Swana, Motzer, Hirlinger