Mudd is back! Following years spent working with Benjamin Smith and countless others, the Claremont 56 founder – real name Paul Murphy – is finally set to release a new solo album, In the Garden of Mindfulness, later in the year. It will be the storied producer’s first lone full-length since the Rong Music released Claremont 56 way back in 2006, a set that was lauded by San Fran dub disco freaks, Balearic enthusiasts and music critics alike.
To get us all in the mood, Murphy has decided to deliver a flavour of what’s to come via a limited-edition two-track sampler 12”. Both tracks demonstrate the musical journey that he’s been on over the last two decades, with warm and tactile grooves smothered in dense layers of alluring instrumentation, with additional keys and solos by his friend and frequent collaborator Michele Chiavarini. Fittingly, side A boasts album title track ‘In the Garden of Mindfulness’ (named after a painting that will adorn the front cover of the LP). Ushered in by spacey electronics and twinkling, effects-laden keys, the track shuffles along at a deliciously low tempo, with woozy lead lines, subtle Clavinet licks, sun-soaked jazz guitars and cascading synthesizer motifs reclining over head-nodding beats and the squelchiest of synth basslines. It’s classic Mudd, with a few nods to his collaborative Hillside project thrown in.
It comes accompanied by ‘Katanaboy’, a gentle nudge towards sun-down dancefloors pushed forwards by metronomic Balearic disco beats and rubbery jazz-funk bass. On top of this rock-solid bed, and worming their way into your subconscious, you’ll find a heady blend of electric piano riffs, psychedelic electronics, sparkling guitar motifs, funk-fuelled flashes of Clav and sax, spacey chords, fizzing synth solos and all manner of additional percussion by Patrick Dawes – not to mention Murphy’s usual swirling and mind-altering special effects. It’s the kind of tactile, enveloping workout that sounds as good on a big rig as it does at home – and there’s no greater praise than that.