Robert Stillman - Portals

Kit Records

£16.20

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: KR46
Barcode: 5050580775015
Release Date: 21 Jan 2022
Genre: Jazz / Free Improvisation

01: PORTAL 1
02: PORTAL 2
03: PORTAL 3
04: PORTAL 4
05: PORTAL 5
06: PORTAL 6
07: BREAK
08: PORTAL 8 (THE STRANGER)

Robert Stillman's much-loved, homespun collection of Fender Rhodes improvisations receives the vinyl treatment from Kit Records.

Recorded to tape in the solitude of Robert's Kent studio, PORTALS is truly a candid window into the trance-like process of making: melodies, ideas and themes are added folded, concealed and revealed like layers of paper and paint, combining to form an intimately transportive sonic mural.

Most startling are the shifting voices of the Rhodes - from careening, glassy pads to strident basslines, curveball jazz breakdowns or kaleidoscopic marimba flutter. Keys players take note: PORTALS is a masterclass in restricted virtuosity. Quite how so many worlds are conjured from one instrument across the 35 minute duration of this record, we're not sure.

Recommended if you like Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Arthur Russell, Kali Malone. This vinyl edition of Portals features a previously unreleased track, 'PORTAL 8'.

Robert Stillman is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from the northeast United States. His music juxtaposes the archaic with the futuristic, incorporating influences of Jazz, Minimalism, American Folk music, and experimental electronic music to create a sound described by the Guardian as "lending an avant-garde shimmer to pre-modern American sounds."

“Stillman sounds as if he’s drawing on a deep reserve of sacred conviction.”
Aquarium Drunkard

“Lending an avant-garde shimmer to pre-modern American sounds.”
Guardian

“Stillman is a composer with an innovative way of rethinking a creaky, generally neglected strain of Americana.”
Uncut

“Stillman exhibits an enviable aptitude for quiet experimentation in his compositions, testing boundaries and taking subtle chances without alienating his audience.”
Dusted