Last Circle In A Slowdown

'LAST CIRCLE IN A SLOWDOWN' by BIG BEND        (Shimmy-2026) Released, September 13, 2024 Big Bend’s third LP, "Last Circle In A Slowdown", is a monument to listening through the veil of time and space. Ohio native and primary songwriter, Nathan Phillips, built upon ensemble jam sessions he hosted at a residency in Australia and collaged those recordings alongside co-producer Shahzad Ismaily to make Last Circle in a Slowdown. Reflective, hi-fi, and elemental, the folk-meets-freeform sonics evoke rich 90s acoustic rock and jazz influenced British post pop songwriting. Lyrical observations of nature’s mystery and modes of regeneration consider the looming chance all things could move in any direction.  - Lyndsay Knecht (Red Hot Org) The 1st pressing is limited to 555 hand-numbered LP's on 150gm black vinyl, available exclusively through the Shimmy-Shop and on Bandcamp. A Clear Vinyl pressing is available in fine record stores around the globe. The free digital download with each vinyl purchase also includes two special "digital-only" bonus tracks.  Songs written by Nathan Phillips, except "The Exit" co-written by Craig Schenker and Zosha Warpeha Produced by Nathan Phillips and Shahzad Ismaily Recorded at Golden Retriever, Figure 8 and home.  The anticipated follow-up to Big Bend’s acclaimed Radish (2019) is about longing to listen. Let’s begin outside a studio, where primary songwriter Nathan Phillips is on a house painting job. He overhears the band Ex Eye rehearsing inside. A muffled sound reaches him, through one closed door and then another. This proof of distance, measured by sound, inspired "Last Circle in a Slowdown". Phillips, who lives in the rust belt town of Mansfield, Ohio where he grew up, returned to live recordings of ensemble jam sessions he hosted at a residency in Australia. In a process similar to his collaborations with Laraaji and Susan Alcorn on Radish, Phillips collaged the residency sessions, this time alongside co-producer Shahzad Ismaily. The result is a hifi celebration of the instrument in its purest form and a dimensional testament to the possibilities of composition: Violin and saxophone court flute and bass harmonics on a foundation of drums and moog newly layered by Ismaily, along with acoustic guitar, piano, and bass. Anna RG came in at a late stage to reassemble and hoist up the arrangements.  The album’s title evokes the full-circle nature of that process. But 'Last Circle in a Slowdown' refers specifically to the final rotation of a table fan, that incremental reach toward stillness. We can apply that to decay, or disrepair. But Phillips and his collaborators remind us that, when recast and reversed, that slowing circle becomes momentum and beginning.  These sounds feel at once live and deeply considered. Phillips’ structured to free-form singing grounds an impression of rich 90s acoustic rock and an influence of the British post-pop songwriting of Mark Hollis and David Sylvian. In the lyrics we meet the moon and see through the window of a moving train; we consider the opening and closing of a heart. Phillips’ writing seems to process the looming chance all things could move in any direction. At the center is a longing expressed by astronomer Maria Mitchell: “We can reach forth and strain every nerve,” she says, “but only seize a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us.”  - Lyndsay Knecht  "...Accomplishing what at face value should be impossible, the track here ('Wheeling'), from the upcoming Last Circle in a Slowdown album, rides a wave of delicate tension that’s nonetheless strong enough to never quite break, withstanding its own subtle but unstoppable momentum to deliver a piece of music that stuns as it soothes (or is that the other way around and how exactly does that matter?), that intrigues in just about the most honest emotional way imaginable, restraint and compulsion gliding along together like the secret sides of the same equation they’ve apparently always been. Indeed, we feel it’s safe to say that not since the above-mentioned has the notion of being so utterly transfixed in a way that can only be described as quietly electrifying been presented with such soul, such deftness, such unforced accessibility. There’s a confidence to the naturalism here that makes what was without a doubt a very involved process feel as effortless as breathing and in that sense alone this is, yes, a marvel. But really, in the end? Imagine this: you’re standing in a late summer field, the tall grass all around you is dry, golden, the air crisp and warm.  The city’s not far away, you can still hear its constant murmur. Now, close your eyes, concentrate on the ambient sound flowing around you, the textures in the breeze, the rhythm of life that until a moment ago was as unnoticeable as it nearly always is for all of us in our daily fuss of living, and for the first time in a long while if not ever you understand the beauty that is always pulsing in the atmosphere. Like this track and for similar reasons, it’s a wake-up call, an invitation to notice the intensity, the beauty, that speaks so often and so eloquently in the quietude. “Wheeling,” in its sound, may present as a stroke of humility but in its impact, its intricacy, in the way it casts a spell so subtly transfixing you can’t – nor would you wish to – shake it, it is a resounding accomplishment. ..." - Dave Cantrell (Stereo Embers Magazine) July, 2024