{"title":"Ezra Feinberg","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. It features the first of two appearances from \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Moore\u003c\/strong\u003e (Bing and Ruth) who plays lilting piano lines on the come-down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘There Was Somebody There’ returns to the album’s earlier wistfulness, a hard stereo-panned soundworld with lightly strummed, interlocking acoustic guitars combining to pigment a washy, painterly scene. \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Moore\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eJefre Cantu-Ledesma\u003c\/strong\u003e provide reviving synths, the underlying pulse that seems to simulate a life cycle; another day on Earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe album closes with the reflective ‘Get Some Rest’ featuring \u003cstrong\u003eMary Lattimore\u003c\/strong\u003e, whose harp pluckings set a dreamlike tone against bare organic acoustics and flourishing flutes to create a sense of realignment and restoration. Feinberg artfully transcends the listener to an enriched place, his compositions distinguished by the deep humanity that lies at their core, plugging the listener into a state of wide-eyed being, open and alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSoft Power\u003c\/em\u003e then is Ezra’s own mantra but also one of power giving - a colorful catharsis translated into music. Feinberg’s music always speaks to the listener, but \u003cem\u003eSoft Power\u003c\/em\u003e, in whispering, speaks loudest.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tonal Union","offers":[{"title":"LP - Clear","offer_id":50380094144843,"sku":"2191870","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP - Green","offer_id":50380094341451,"sku":"2215484","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":51245420020043,"sku":"2243248","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Soft_Power_76043d83_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726207151"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/ezra-feinberg.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}