Sage (album) by Jason Del Campo

We are very proud to present 'Sage' by Jason Del Campo.

The music was all written prior to the pandemic, so this isn't a 'pandemic album' as such. However, given the circumstances in which it was recorded and produced, it is hard to disentangle it. Jason recorded the album during the early days of the COVID lockdown in France. He recorded it over 5 days, alone, in a large, empty live music venue in Lyon, near where he lives.

Jason was inspired to make the album by the book L'usage di vide by Romain Graziani, and the music of Max Richter, Nils Frahm and Bill Frisell.
The music is very simple and direct, almost like a child's music box in some places. There is an honesty, maybe even a naivety, in much of it that stands in stark contrast to much of the irony, knowingness and cynicism in the world. Broadly speaking the genre would be neo-/modern-/post-classical. Or whatever we're calling beautiful but not old instrumental music these days :)

Jason was very keen to make the production warm, intimate and atmospheric. He purposely refrained from over-editing or 'refining' his performances, or any of the noises that sometimes occur during recording (sounds of breathing, fingers on strings, the creak of a chair). He wanted the listener to be very aware that there was another person performing this music, on a real instrument, with them in mind. A way of reaching out to other people through music, when many of us felt so separate and isolated.

Inspired by fond memories of listening to cassette tapes in his formative years, all the productions have  tape-based elements; subtle fuzzy background atmospheres, tape saturation, modulation and delays are sprinkled throughout the album, reflecting that it is the imperfections and imprecisions that make us who we are.

Ed and I heard Jason's album only a couple of months after he had recorded it, and we fell in love with it straight away. When everything seemed chaotic, and uncertain, and scary, putting on Jason's album gave us some moments of calm and quiet, simple pleasure. We signed it because we hoped that it could do the same for others too.

We hope you enjoy it x


Jason says:

“I was inspired to make this album by the book "L'usage du vide" (The Use of Void) by Romain Graziani, and the music of Max Richter, Nils Frahm and Bill Frisell. ‘Sage’ means ‘wisdom’. Rather than planning every tiny detail I tried to keep each part of the process as instinctive as possible, reacting in the moment and seeing what happened. I’m really pleased with how it all turned out. This album feels like a big first step for me as a solo artist, and I’m excited to get this out there and start performing it for people.”


At Swim Music owners Ian Dowling and Ed Kenny say:

“As soon as we heard Jason’s music we fell in love with it. Everything seemed so uncertain at that point in the pandemic, and we kept coming back to ‘Sage’ as an oasis of calm and reflection. The world doesn’t appear to have become any calmer since then, so we hope others will also find some moments of peace through listening to Jason’s music.”

Independent Record Label in the UK.

at-swim.com
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