I’m delighted to announce a new release, Fragments in the Maze, my second duo with Chris Russell.

Five years in the making, our second album as a team is my first album not to be self-released. I’m thrilled to become a part of the venerable earthMANTRA digital label, whose roster includes Chris, Lucette Bourdin, Lily Pond Orchestra, Andrew Lahiff, Palancar and so many others.

My guitar atmospheres on this project melded nicely with Chris’ otherworldly sci-fi-tinged synth zones. Chris’ parts, reminiscent of his outstanding release Portal, also hearkened back to our 2014 album Memory Palace.

I took inspiration from classical composers for my parts on two pieces, which ended up being reflected in their titles. On Portal Villa-Lobos, I adopted a technique from a guitar prelude by the great Venezuelan composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, in which one chord position is moved fret-by-fret over an entire octave. With two open strings, this chromatic technique yielded some very interesting chords. On Touch of Satie, my interest was to recreate a bit of the composer’s wistful, melancholy ambience.

Big thanks to Chris for being a terrific music partner, to earthMANTRA’s Geoff Small for accepting the album for release, and to Steve Brand for its cover layout. Artwork by Luis Tomasello.

The album is available on a name-your-price basis at earthMANTRA’s Bandcamp page. Chris and I hope you enjoy it!