Producer-Artist Taylor Deupree Shares Abstract New Single “Something That Looks Like Stars”; Announces New EP
June 23, 2023 BY Jason Currell
Today, renowned ambient artist and mastering engineer Taylor Deupree announces his forthcoming EP Eev and shares the soft, abstract composition “Something That Looks Like Stars.” The prolific musician quietly explores an imaginary landscape with a hybrid of natural sounds and technological meditation. Lush tones focus on stillness while embracing the restlessness of our natural world.
Deupree explains: “I almost always have visuals in my head when creating music and ‘something that looks like stars’ was no different… it came to me after it was well underway, though. As much as I don’t like saying what my music “is about” (because without words that’s far too nebulous of a hope)… I was thinking about things that looked one way, perhaps green and rosy, that actually weren’t. They looked like stars, but really weren’t. It’s not supposed to be a message of losing hope but more one of the facts that life is one big grey area, one big question mark.”
“Something That Looks Like Stars” follows “Eev” and Nothern (Redux) his collaboration with The Lumineers’ co-founder Jeremiah Fraites. Dubbed the “Ambient Music Laureate” by Pitchfork, Deupree’s career started in the 1990s, soon becoming known for his prolific work, rich abstract atmospherics, and impressive collaborators. He’s also the founder of 12k label and runs a studio in New York where he is the go-to for ambient mastering.
Taylor Deupree’s new EP Eev is due out August 18th via Nettwerk.
Listen & Share “Something That Looks Like Stars” Here:
https://youtu.be/YI_iHGtBB0E
Taylor Deupree is an accomplished sound artist whose recordings have appeared on numerous record labels, as well as in site-specific installations at such institutions as the ICC (Tokyo, Japan) and the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (Yamaguchi, Japan). He started out, in the 1990s, making new noises that edged outward toward the fringes of techno, and in time he found his own path to follow. His music today emphasizes a hybrid of natural sounds and technological mediation. It’s marked by a deep attention to stillness, to an almost desperate near silence. His passion for the studio as a recording instrument is paramount in his work, but there is no hint of digital idolatry. If anything, his music shows a marked attention to the aesthetics of error and the imperfect beauty of nature, to the short circuits not only in technological systems but in human perception.
And though there is an aura of insularity to Depuree’s work, he is a prolific collaborator, having collaborated with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Christian Fennesz, Ichiko Aoba, S. Carey, Stephan Mathieu, Stephen Vitiello, Marcus Fischer, Arovane, Federico Durand, Christopher Willits, Frank Bretschneider, and Tetsu Inoue just to name a few.
Deupree dedicates as much time to other people’s music as he does to his own. In 1997 he founded the record label 12k, which since then has released over 150 recordings by some of the most accomplished musicians and modern sound artists of our time. Many share with Deupree an interest in stark minimalism, but the label has also found room for, located a common ground with, the acoustic avant-garde, the instrumental derivations of post-rock, and the synthetic extremes of techno.
He has also spent much of the past 10 years as a full-time mastering engineer working not only in the realm of experimental and ambient music but across many modern genres with an ear for both the technical and artistic.
And collectively, the cover jackets to the 12k album releases have served as an ongoing exhibit of Deupree’s photography, its lofi aesthetic, with an emphasis on damage and wear and antiquated tech, closely paralleling his music. (His photos have also graced numerous books, design anthologies, and other recordings and projects.)
Deupree continues to evolve his sound with an ambition and drive that is masked by his music’s inherent quietude. This year, he joins forces with Nettwerk Music Group and approaches each project with an expectation of new directions, new processes, and new junctures.
TAYLOR DEUPREE IN THE PRESS…
“…a refined display of his impeccable devotion to his craft.”
– Pitchfork
“…a succinct and beautifully crafted meditation on the uncertainty of life and ambiguity of perception.”
– Stationary Travels
“…the New York-based sound producer (recently signed to Nettwerk) explores the most soothing and sentient electronic facet of his musical production with layers of sinuous textures embracing a highly peaceful, lightly meditative and heart-moving direction.”
– Igloo Magazine
“All the cracks, distortions, too close for comfort mic placement, disjointed melodies, swells of pure crystalline drone – they are all there… a high watermark of the modern ambient music.”
– Tome to the Weather Machine
Track List:
1. Eev
2. Figment
3. Burnt Island
4. Something That Looks Like Stars
5. Moonless
6. Eev (Sleep Version)
7. Something That Looks Like Stars (Sleep Version)
