Brooklyn-based underground music veterans Jarvis Earnshaw and Trevor Dunn are gearing up to release their first collaborative album as the TRAVIS DUO – a collection of improvisations based on a set of line drawings and diagrams drawn during lucid dreams. Aptly titled ‘Hypnagogia’ of or pertaining to the period of the transitional state between waking life and dreams: hypnagogic hallucinations).
For this project, multi-instrumentalist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, John Zorn, The Melvins, Diatom Ribbons, Trio Convulsant, Endangered Blood) plays contrabass and percussion, while Jarvis Earnshaw (SYRINX-Series, Question, Harbinger, the Luke Stewart and Jarvis Earnshaw Quartet) contributes sitar, tapeloops and vocals. Together they mesh and warp jazz into a novel and unique experimental sitar-laden creature.
Ahead of this, the TRAVIS DUO presents ‘Hitherto’ featuring Daniel Carter, a renowned jazz veteran of the NYC underground jazz scene, who has played wth many notable artists, including Yoko Ono, Sonic Youth, Jaco Pastorius, Yo La Tengo, William Parker, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra.
Recorded and mixed by legendary producer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Herbie Hancock, Afrika Bambaataa, DNA, White Zombie, Ginger Baker, John Zorn) at his BC Studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn, this album was mastered by Josh Bonati (William S. Burroughs, Zola Jesus, Beaks>, Mort Garson ‘Plantasia’, Slowdive, Jenny Hval).
‘Hypnagogia’ is bold and honest, weaving a tapestry of colours and pushing abstractions. They present an impressive hybrid of styles, whilst gently nestling on their pop roots. The kaleidoscopic overtones of the sitar dance elegantly with the charismatic and eloquent contrabass. This is psychedelic ethnic-flavoured jazz with a mean right hook.
The duo is joined on this album by several well-achieved musicians, including saxophonist Devin Brahja Waldman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thurston Moore, Notable Deaths) and drummer Niko Wood {Shake The Baby Til The Love Comes Out}. Also, Daniel Carter (Yoko Ono, Jaco Pastorius, Yo La Tengo, Sun Ra) plays saxophone and flute, while Sean McCaul (Philip Glass Ensemble ‘Naqoyqatsi’) plays xylophone.
“This album is a meeting of minds that cross generations, timelines and genres, as if ancestral cheerleaders were egging us on. The personnel age gap on this record spans 50 years, the youngest being in his 20s to the oldest in his 70s. Every member is a highly distinguished unique musician in their own right and at the top of their field, creating gorgeous music in every genre, pulling inspiration from our vast experiences of life – from Abstract Noise, Punk, Jazz, Rock, Hiphop to Chamber music and beyond. This has magically shaped this album, which extends beyond genre and is pure expression at its finest above and beyond boundaries,” says Jarvis Earnshaw.
“I grew up in backwoods bumblef*ck countryside Japan and would have never imagined that I would be playing music with my hero Trevor Dunn. I still remember the first time I heard his band Mr.Bungle smash open my head with the bottlecracking ‘Travolta’. 13-year old me was obsessed with the band, which has really shaped the person I am today. Martin Bisi, the humble legend, has produced most of the music I listened to growing up, which can probably be said by a lot of people. In many ways, this is a dream-come-true album and I still keep pinching myself or perhaps this is all just a lucid dream.”
London-born, Jarvis Earnshaw spent most of his childhood in Japan, releasing his debut album via Slam Records at the age of 15. Since graduating Bunka Gakuin Art School in Tokyo, he studied sitar in India, and is a graduate of Pratt Institute in New York. Both as a musician and visual artist, his work is recognized worldwide, having solo exhibitions, residencies and performances throughout the world, including Fuji Rock Festival, Europe, India and across America to New York’s own Lincoln Center.
As of December 10, ‘Hypnogogia’ will be released as a limited edition of 500 albums on dark blue vinyl. The seven core tracks come with bonus track ‘Lolloping Theta Broom Horse’ and a16-page full-colour booklet. It can be pre-ordered directly from Earnshaw’s own website or via Bandcamp.
[…] Travis Duo, in general, is just such a case and this brace of singles, Uchouten / Sab Kuch Milega and Hitherto, in particular marks them out as being something truly different and all of the things that I mentioned above. […]