{"title":"Tonal Union","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"soft-power-3","title":"Soft Power","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEzra Feinberg\u003c\/strong\u003e’s third album \u003cem\u003eSoft Power\u003c\/em\u003e sees the composer-guitarist enlist an impressive array of fellow musicians including \u003cstrong\u003eMary Lattimore\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Moore\u003c\/strong\u003e (Bing and Ruth), \u003cstrong\u003eJefre Cantu-Ledesma\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003eRobbie Lee\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDefined by its abundance of melodies, repeating figures, and ecstatic improvisations, \u003cem\u003eSoft Power\u003c\/em\u003e exudes an enlightened and transformative spirit to empower the listener. Feinberg, a practicing psychoanalyst and former founding member of the San Francisco psychedelic collective Citay (Dead Oceans \/ Important Records) resides in the artistic enclave of upstate New York's Hudson River valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInitial recordings emerged in the late summer of 2020, before added synthesis with collaborator John Thayer (Arp, Sunwatchers) during early 2021. \u003cem\u003eSoft Power\u003c\/em\u003e follows previous albums \u003cem\u003eRecumbent Speech\u003c\/em\u003e (2020) and \u003cem\u003ePentimento and Others\u003c\/em\u003e (2018).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe compassionate, tender-hearted opener ‘Future Sand’ deftly interweaves flutes and steady arpeggios. The Reichian pulse beneath the soaring melody is played not on the customary analogue sequencer, but on finger-picked acoustic guitar, one of the lodestars of Feinberg’s compositional approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘Soft Power’, the buoyant and mesmeric title track that follows builds over a rich bed of guitars and a reverb-y Rhodes melody reminiscent of a Strata East LP, its narrative arc bountiful in energy, optimism, and future dreaming, a perfect accompaniment to long days of summertide. “The most unexpected, unpredictable, and spontaneous moments in life live in the realm of softness”, quotes Feinberg.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘Pose Beams’ blends the chamber-jazz approach of Penguin Café Orchestra with a balletic kosmische, climaxing with a galvanizing crescendo and “free improv” section performed by fellow New Yorkers - \u003cstrong\u003eRobbie Lee\u003c\/strong\u003e (piano) and \u003cstrong\u003eJefre Cantu-Ledesma\u003c\/strong\u003e, whose granular and modular synths sprinkle particle dust over the expressive drumming of \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Thayer\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘Flutter Intensity’ evokes in part the music of Cluster as played on acoustic guitars, which ping-pong across the stereo field, providing the canvas for a plaintive vibraphone line reminiscent of TNT-era Tortoise. Instruments move in tandem, but also drift and glide allowing them the space to hang in the air, the variegated rhythms, textures, and tones all laced into the fabric of the album.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt the centrefold of the album’s 7-tracks is ‘The Big Clock’, a triptych piece that evolves from pairs of stretched varying tones, creating fields of technicolor over an unabashed motorik beat, serving to offset the pastoral and ambient registers heard elsewhere. 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The cover artwork features another collaboration with Dutch visual artist Sigrid Calon and design by label founder Adam Heron.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFormed with a sense of urgency and a reductive approach ‘Lines’ is almost entirely comprised of alto saxophone, clarinet and piano with embellishments of ambience and minimal percussive elements. Recorded in full at his home studio in London, Pascal Bideau speaks about the process: “I wanted to go a bit more a bit more horizontal and ambient, work with layers of lines, might they be dotted or straight, and leave them to unfold and see where they would take me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Secant’ is the electrifying and cinematic opener, emerging with the main motif deriving from the recording sessions of \u003ci\u003eFleeting Future\u003c\/i\u003e. It’s distinct sound echoes New York, a homage in part to the works of Steve Reich and inspired also by train travels across the English countryside. 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Known also as the music project, festival, and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe, and Ellen Arkbro.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMusically, it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a newfound presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance, Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like ‘me’. 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Drawing creative inspiration from contemporary artists like Tirzah, Gia Margaret, Valentina Magaletti, Tara Clerkin Trio and ML Buch, \u003ci\u003eAprès coup\u003c\/i\u003e finds Torres intersecting at a pivotal moment where artists whose marginalized identities are at the forefront in creating a beautiful array of “other options”. “Being othered and tokenized as a woman who plays music, as well as a queer and black person, takes a toll, while also positively feeding a strong urge to push and be seen.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCentering around piano, drums and synthesizer with interweaving field recordings, \u003ci\u003eAprès coup\u003c\/i\u003e follows the precursor ep ‘Correspondances’ in the form of a sprawling 11-track album. Translating directly from French - afterwards, after the event - its title subliminally points at something deeper between the lines. Recorded in 2023 between tours in a small window of time where ‘normal’ life hadn't quite recommenced, Torres meticulously crafted her debut solo material in view of surrounding nature, all providing the perfect nourishment for long streams of improvisation. Built right up to the edge of a lake, Studio Wild in St-Zénon, Québec offered an unparalleled location and set up for her freeform creativity. Instrumental music seemed like a natural response and evolution for Torres who had long basked in the world of “pop music” as she elaborates: “I had an urge to use creativity as a sort of resting place, a place where things can unfold slowly and take time to reveal themselves. In other worlds words, I felt the need to make something slower, more elusive”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLaurie ascends to a ‘flow state’ not dissimilar to the meditative tones of Nala Sinephro and the repeating figures of Duval Timothy. ‘Duvet’ emerges with a wide-open organ drone (Hammond B3) and stays still throughout, setting a welcoming mood. The joyful, velvety piano melodies begin to ring out before tentatively locking into a precise phrase around analogue delays that create a “breathing” effect. ‘Feux fuyants’ descends into otherworldly terrain with a burst of energy as her patterned drumming interlocks with a responding piano line fed through glitchy delays as the track folds in on itself. We return to serenity with ‘Reflets’, which moves between left and right hand piano phrases on top of an arpeggiating Farfisa synth that provides the glue and airiness. Field recordings embellish the album’s inner walls - all extracted directly from the location. Scraping, walking, singing into the air and the wind all make up its human, tangible fabric. On ‘Intérieurs’, she embraces the gifts and flaws of improvisation, leaving in an imprinted audible sigh, finding a raw beauty in the natural performance. ‘Clessidra’ insistently drives the album forwards with percussive brass cowbell tappings (one used for herds) matched with repeating piano patterns that sway in and out of sync with a surreal chorus of staggered vocal layerings. ‘Point-Virgule’ offers a delightful breathing moment ahead of ‘Correspondances’, a close relative to ‘Duvet’ stemming from a similar theme and progression. As we arrive at ‘Exit’ the pace steadies to where the piano and drums exist independently of one another, yet meeting on another latitude as if signaling the end of a conversation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith her ‘pop’ past workings never far away, Laurie artfully drifts between uplifting and melancholic hues, never overbearing or undermining one another. 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Finding inspiration in the craft of weaving and embracing a collective spirit as a band leader, all while readying a new studio album expected later in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt follows the lauded album \u003ci\u003eSun Arcs\u003c\/i\u003e (2023) with Pitchfork naming it (Best New Music, 8.3), amongst numerous other accolades. Blue Lake is the ongoing musical project of American born, Copenhagen based musician Jason Dungan which serves as his artistic platform as composer and collaborator. Developed over the period of 2024 and witnessed at live performances across a swath of European cosmopolitan cities and festivals, the project stands at a new creative juncture. The earthy title track 'Weft' emerges with a sense of ease and familiarity as looping guitar riffs in open tunings bed in around a warm cello pulse that provides the essential heartbeat. These interlinking parts align to create his most explicit version yet of an American writing country music in Scandinavia. Dungan named the release \u003ci\u003eWeft\u003c\/i\u003e as a reference to the weaving practice of his partner, Danish visual artist Maria Zahle, whose work “Torso” is featured on the album’s cover. With her works providing a constant source of inspiration to his music and practice as an instrument-builder, Dungan found a symbiotic connection between their mediums, which is reflected in the music on \u003ci\u003eWeft\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWeft\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of new works that casts a net into new sound territories with distinctive timbres yet always channelled through the refined lens of Dungan’s prism. Infused with an ongoing connection to nature, it furthermore expands his unique meld of off-kilter folk, jazz, country and left-field experimental ambience. ‘Weft’ then is an accomplishment of growth, of bolder objectives and of collaboration with like minds. 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Written and produced in his bedroom dorm at Harvard, in Cambridge Massachusetts, Brady recorded organic instruments (violin, bouzouki) before routing them through a compact modular synth setup acting as a sound chamber for further manipulation (loops, effects, textures). In striving to make sense of the ordinary, on Day-blind, Brady’s works are invariably imbued with a sense of serenity and tension as he explains:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“There’s a way in which everyday life can be a source of deep pain and melancholy, intensely disquieting and dull and leaden, and yet it can also be a place of deep peace and conscious attunement to the present moment, and it’s this tension that the album is built around.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woozy opener ‘Womb’ accesses deep and personal emotional spaces with its textural synth swells alternating between two simple chords, a gentle piano interlude and grainy textures that induce a day-dream state. The intentional unhurried-pace of the track ‘Ordinary’ drifts between two key centers of doleful Wurlitzer chords, hand in hand with the listener who might only register the tonal shifts on a subconscious level. Another distinct feature is the warm enveloping presence of an eight string Greek bouzouki (a longnecked, string instrument) as heard on ‘Land and Sea’, after Brady fell in love with its unique timbre that echoes a filmic quality to that of Jean Constantin’s 400 Blows score to depict a sense of yearning. ‘Attune’ enters with slowed-down synths and bouzouki, looped over itself, delayed, and then resynthesized to create a strange but seamless blend of acoustic and electronic as Brady moves the centre of gravity. This deliberate intervention takes the ordinary instruments and defamiliarizes them, making their source\/origin not readily apparent therefore removing any blanket of association.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eDay-blind \u003c\/em\u003etoo explores themes of memory, nostalgia, and melancholia which emanate from its lo-fi, intimate and sensitive nature. Through a hazy smokescreen of delays, tape loops and decays Brady contemplates a typical post modern-era dilemma of wistful longing and lonesome nostalgia, existing parallel\/alongside contentment and staying in the present moment. The bare, reflective ‘Streetlight’ with its pitch-shifted and vari-speed piano, spliced with a weeping violin melody performed by Kalman Strauss, precedes the re-constructive ‘Untitled’ with a heavily filtered looping piano and rhythmic pulse. ‘Ambrosial’, dims the spotlight to a close being the most textural-laden track, combining loose sonic materials similar to Eno’s Ambient 4 collage techniques. By channelling his own acute musical sensibilities by means of evocative voicings, Brady momentarily deconstructs, warps and reshapes reality, posing questions about perception and our states of being as the album's curious title mysteriously suggests.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross its seven vignettes,\u003cem\u003e Day-blind \u003c\/em\u003eis life animated as Brady makes possible an everyday encounter with the transcendent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor fans of: Merope, Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer, Memotone, The Caretaker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tonal Union","offers":[{"title":"LP - Clear","offer_id":51637324677451,"sku":"R3415-0126","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f7eadc03-2809-8923-66b9-694daf137cb6.jpg?v=1744641977"},{"product_id":"the-animal-1","title":"The Animal","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlue Lake reveals his most ambitious album yet, which finds its visionary creator Jason Dungan harnessing the collective alchemy of his band, with ten spirited tracks that resonate with a powerful directness, evoking an ecological connection to the wider world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrowing up in Dallas, Texas, Dungan then moved around for many years, living in both Europe and the USA, before finding a close connection to the Danish capital Copenhagen, where he now resides, a location heavily spotlighted in recent years as fertile creative ground for fellow experimental artists like Astrid Sonne, ML Buch and Clarissa Connelly. This well travelled upbringing would no doubt prove of spiritual significance on Dungan’s emergence as a singular artistic voice, traversing the planes of Ambient, Americana, with hues of Kosmische, uniquely infused with his own Nordic aesthetic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe solo project (Blue Lake), now on its fifth album, found its name and inspiration via Don Cherry’s 1974 live album, sparking a creative epiphany in Dungan, who set off on a path into his own untapped sonic world, guided by what he cited as the emotional potential found within non-lyrical composition. With a newly inspired ethos aimed toward creating direct and simple instrumental music imbued with a deep sense of feeling, Jason began combining an array of musical elements that gave rise to his highly revered album \u003cem\u003eSun Arcs\u003c\/em\u003e (2023), with its “ornate, zither-led lattices” (Pitchfork, Best New Music). Conceived in the blissful isolation of a Swedish cabin set in the woods, this was music that soundtracked spring in full bloom. Then, in contrast to the solitary approach of \u003cem\u003eSun Arcs\u003c\/em\u003e, the highly lauded mini-album \u003cem\u003eWeft\u003c\/em\u003e (2025) began to set the tone for a more band-oriented approach to delivering the Blue Lake sound. Jason had by this time experienced a special collective energy with his band during a swathe of live performances, which he then sought to harness and distill on \u003cem\u003eThe Animal\u003c\/em\u003e, leading him to take the project into a traditional recording studio (The Village) and its limitless potential along with his gifted cohorts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Magical in it's simplicity\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePitchfork\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Gentility and grace\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNPR, All Songs Considered\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Irresistibly radiant\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUncut\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"A shimmering, drifting quality, like dappled sun on water\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Quietus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tonal Union","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":52620377424203,"sku":"R5986-7429","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2025-07-02T103339.693.jpg?v=1751448831"},{"product_id":"dream-temperature","title":"Dream Temperature","description":"\u003cp\u003eSaxophonist, producer and composer Brian Allen Simon explores darker hues, transposing waking and altered states under his studio veil Anenon. On the deeply evocative new album \u003cem\u003eDream Temperature\u003c\/em\u003e, he shifts electronic processing to the foreground, introducing digitized wind instruments and unworldly atmospherics, not heard since his innovating mid-late 2010s output.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA longtime Los Angeles resident, born and raised, Brian Allen Simon has expressively operated under the moniker Anenon, releasing the highly revered ‘Petrol’ (2016), ‘Tongue’ (2018) and the viscerally beautiful ‘Moons Melt Milk Light’ (2023), in a line of unwavering musical dialogues. While the penultimate album was a deliberate, reductive, entirely acoustic detour that was born out of a want to unplug, ‘Dream Temperature’ sees Brian primed with a newly discovered wind synthesizer as his central compositional tool, alongside acoustic piano and tenor saxophone. The entirety of the album’s electronics are triggered by Brian’s lungs, generating otherworldly synths modulated by expressive breath control, channelled through the laptop as the core processing chamber for added textural components and field recordings.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA free floating and heavy emotional resonance marks\u003cem\u003e Dream Temperature\u003c\/em\u003e from beginning to end, invoking the feeling of waking up, still heavy from a night of half-remembered dreams, and continuing one’s day in this state. Simon maps out the album's spatial voice early on the statement title track, a deep, yet compact cut, generated from digital saxophone rasps that whistle by in close proximity, along with haze filled textures and sub bass. There is a sonic oscillation of urban grit and pastoral drift throughout as tracks pass by like introspective thoughts, fueling both a tense and ethereal quality that underpins the album. Interluding solo and part-solo piano improvisations ‘Last Sun 1’ and ‘2’ are positioned adjacent to the buffering digital soundscapes. Their softer, still processed timbres pierce the melancholic exterior, offering a contrasting tenderness that could echo the grace of Ryūichi Sakamoto, the spiritualist rigor of ECM’s Keith Jarrett and a touch akin to Aphex Twin’s piano miniatures. ‘Nulle Part 1+2’ signals the first appearance of an acoustic wind instrument, as tenor saxophone flourishes are juxtaposed against noisy drones, all shouting at the void, with notes resurfacing like lost digital data.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe album was recorded at home during either sunset or nocturnal hours between September of 2024 and October of 2025, a period in which Brian found himself craving more lengthy and intimate studio time as he searched for more pronounced textural qualities amidst his new sonic ambitions. ‘When The Light Appears, Boy’ shows further evidence of this deeper universe, revealing a grittier edge as the album's essential blueprint is sonically inked. A sprawling expanse of wind synths rhythmically encircle the listener before a dreamy, ghostly ambience blankets ‘Toyama’. The sound is evocative of the productions of post dubstep era luminaries such as Burial or the productions of HTRK's Nigel Yang. More isolating and enveloping than the previous all acoustic record, this is music both disorienting and yet warmly inviting all at once. A sonic diarist at heart, personal field recordings were also taken from Sardinia, Japan, Big Sur and LA which intersect at unexpected moments throughout the album's 31-minute play time.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eDream Temperature\u003c\/em\u003e is a vital coalescence of both Simon’s electronic and acoustic practices with repositioned electronics akin to earlier works, both haunting and elegant, yet still profoundly personal. Simon continuously resonates as an experimental outlier treading an enthralling, non-linear musical path. This music resolutely glows with an unknowing aura, like an untapped energy source waiting to be discharged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor fans of Bendik Giske, Laurel Halo, Burial, Nils Frahm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tonal Union","offers":[{"title":"LP - Clear","offer_id":56591637807435,"sku":"R6731-2940","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/006fb02f-c7a3-051b-ab76-f3ed0bc6ccb7.jpg?v=1771857111"},{"product_id":"terra-incognita-1","title":"Terra Incognita","description":"\u003cp\u003eNew album from French-born, London-based composer and musician Akusmi. Featuring Sarathy Korwar, Dudú Kouate, Marysia Osu, Lluís Domènech Plana and Daniel Brandt. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTerra Incognita\u003c\/em\u003e invites us to seven faraway sonic imaginariums fusing global and spiritual jazz with life affirming minimalism into a hypnotic, polyrhythmic odyssey. This time, the albums’ sound palette is more vibrant, earthy and abundant, drawing inspiration from the radiating optimism and high-energy sources heard in Afrobeat, Highlife and Electronic Afro-pop music, sounding looser, free and primarily interested in raw sensations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTerra Incognita\u003c\/em\u003e then is a rarified opportunity to get lost in and to find our presence of mind, to get off-grid, or even off the map altogether. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tonal Union","offers":[{"title":"LP - Transparent Orange","offer_id":57221424218443,"sku":"R2410-4675","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":57221424251211,"sku":"R2410-7361","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":57221424283979,"sku":"R2410-8518","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/806f4a94-4d09-ecf4-23a6-cb0930b68d56.jpg?v=1777996179"},{"product_id":"routine-2","title":"Routine","description":"\u003cp\u003eJason Dungan (aka Blue Lake) and Johan Carøe find beauty in the rhythms and repetitions of domestic life for collaborative album, \u003cem\u003eRoutine\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCopenhagen-based multi-instrumentalists Jason Dungan and Johan Carøe didn’t set out to make an album. Instead, as the title \u003cem\u003eRoutine\u003c\/em\u003e suggests, they found their way there through a process of habitual making and listening, developing an intuitive musical language to reflect the dreamlike meanderings and creative play of life's quiet moments. Routine blends pop orientated sounds, Avant-garde minimalism, folk and new age with the emotive depth of filmscore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir meeting was not entirely coincidental. Previously in bands such as Squares and Triangles, Jason Dungan has since recorded multiple albums under the moniker Blue Lake, including the lauded \u003cem\u003eSun Arcs,\u003c\/em\u003e pursuing his passion for self-built percussion and multi-string instruments. Johan Carøe meanwhile is a composer whose film soundtrack work has seen him collaborate with Angelo Badalamenti, Arp, and Sofie Birch, at whose Andersabo residency (curated by Dungan) the pair first met, resulting in the highly praised album \u003cem\u003eRepair Techniques\u003c\/em\u003e written by Birch and Carøe.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tonal Union","offers":[{"title":"LP - Transparent Clear","offer_id":57649433837899,"sku":"R9460-0732","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a82b4dc5-a319-5b73-01b4-5a314bb8fdba.jpg?v=1782143949"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/tonal-union.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}