El Valle / La Costa

Description

Ibiza-based Jazz N Palms is back with more musical dispatches from the calmer side of the island that follow on from his Ses Rodes album in 2022. That record was focused on a double album assembled, as if over a Cartesian grid of space-time. While one record was about space/the environment, the other was following the times of the day. This 7" expands that with more music inspired by magical island spaces. These tracks were recorded in Magrana Studio in Ibiza with three new musicians and, after the post-production, the mixing was made with the help of Ben Westbeech and his beautiful Unfairchild II, an amazing Californian reproduction of the holy grail of tube compressor that has been present in Abbey Road studios since the 60s. Opener 'El Valle' ('the valley') captures the different shades of light that pass over Ibiza, from early spring light to the arrival of looming clouds and the first thunders of a summer storm. It is the organ which serves as the main character to convey those sensations and the passing from light to dark as a live, loose and dusty groove bounces below. On the flip side, 'La Costa' simulates cruising on the open sea, riding choppy swells as waves lap at the boat and you gaze at the passing landscapes. Only drums and bass have been used to convey the feeling, and the result is a wonderfully uneven, ever-evolving and funky groove full of life.