Mostly made and recorded while he was self-isolation in Canada, Jacques Greene‘s new EP, Fantasy, came out of Greene’s exploration into presence and the blissful side of solitude.
The first track on the album, “Taurus,” hooks you within six seconds with its killer beats and meditative vocal sounds. “Memory Screen + Fantasy” is layered with trance beats, ambient chords, and images of Greene reliving his childhood through, like many of us, his computer or phone screen and memories.
According to Greene, “Relay” was made on multiple machines and recorded straight live and only fiddled with a bit in later editing. It’s a fun track that sounds like hip video arcade music. “Sky River” has thick electro-beats backed with haunting, smoky vocals from Somimagae about awakening the light within us. “Got to leave here. You are not the only one.” are the only lyrics of “Leave Here,” the closing track on the EP that, as Greene puts it, are “…kinda the most direct reference to the Get Me the Fuck Out of Here vibe of this whole record.”
Mission accomplished, Mr. Greene. This EP, brief as it is (just over twenty-one minutes), is a wonderful escape from winter chills, lockdown blues, or wherever you find yourself wishing for peaceful space.
Jacques Greene today announces a new EP, Fantasy, out January 28th (digitally) and April 8th (physically), with the EP available today as NFT. Fantasy pushes Greene further into his down-tempo, trip-hop, and ambient influences than ever before, all while maintaining his signature style. In conjunction with today’s announcement, Greene shares Fantasy’s hypnotic lead single, “Taurus.” “In my mind there’s a real soothing, meditative core to this,” says Greene, “and the almost relentless repetitive nature of the aggressive breaks is meant to tip over into full mediation mode. There’s angst – but there’s trying to move through it.”
“The things you hear when you’re alone. Walking through Mount Royal or other wooded areas you might notice a branch break. As much as I value my alone time and the subtle things you can pick up around and within yourself in those moments, a certain loneliness and anxiety permeates the quiet at some point. The past couple years created ample opportunity for that anxiety and loneliness to stretch its legs and make itself comfortable. This record was born out of weeks of willing a form of peace and inspiration into my surroundings. A large part of that came from working with Leanne Macomber on some vocals. Through a desire to form new connections and throw more humanity into the work. We made a variety of song sketches that I mostly reworked into the final recordings here. We spoke a lot about where our heads were at, certain key phrases, triggers and emotions. Joel Ford, whom I worked on Dawn Chorus with, mixed the record and helped me wrangle a few cats to get this across the finish line. Restless at home in Canada, feeling the restlessness of all my friends and loved ones I kept in touch with as much as possible, trying to make something that made the quiet a bit more peaceful.” — Jacques Greene
Since releasing his last studio album Dawn Chorus in 2019, Jacques Greene scored the short film Exhaust starring Jimmie Fails (The Last Black Man in San Francisco), Glenn Kaino’s installation piece Tidepools (alongside Nosaj Thing), and the video game HomeSchool. Additionally, Greene released remixes for artists including Montreal disco legends Lime, Kacy Hill, Kllo, Elohim, and more. In 2020, Greene made headlines for creating “Promise,” the first single released with associated NFT that staked the owner to music publishing, and the following year released ANTH01, a collection of unearthed tracks spanning the earliest years of his career alongside previously unreleased tracks.
Fantasy Tracklist: 01. Taurus 02. Memory Screen + Fantasy 03. Relay 04. Sky River ft. Satomimagae 05. Leave Here
