We are pleased to annnouce the limited-edition 180-gram vinyl release of McKenzie Stubbert’s Waiting Room. Pre-order now for the August 18th vinyl release date.
Waiting Room is also available as a cd, digital download (with bonus track), and as a cd/vinyl bundle.
For the Los Angeles-based neo-classical composer, making music is a little like going to therapy. Both are a slow process of self-discovery: grueling yet rewarding. “You can try to make these adjustments, but the best path forward in making art and therapy is to first listen to who you are and be honest about what that is,” McKenzie says.
On the Emmy-nominated composer's long-gestating album, Waiting Room, a rich and elegiac song cycle that draws upon film scores, neoclassical piano, and minimalist composers of the late twentieth century, McKenzie has found that honesty.
The video for ""Falling"", which combines "Falling Pt. I" and "Falling Pt. II" into a single piece. It captures the weight of the personal ethos that acted as the backdrop for the album, with Stubbert’s textured approach and toy box take on the neo-classical style on rich display. Check it out on here.
The album’s cover depicts an unusual image of McKenzie himself, rendered in an oil painting by his friend Zachary Johnson. The painting is based upon a photograph McKenzie’s wife and frequent collaborator snapped of him sitting in the waiting room of their marriage counselor. McKenzie saw the image and immediately saw an honest reflection of himself.
“And now the album is called Waiting Room,” McKenzie says. “We were two artists living together, coming out of religion, trying to make art but survive in an economy that doesn’t really support that. It’s pretty complicated. That waiting room was, I discovered, a self-imposed waiting room for me, waiting to emerge.”
credits
released August 18, 2023
Waiting Room by McKenzie Stubbert
Written, performed, produced, and mixed by McKenzie Stubbert
Piano, organ, programming by McKenzie Stubbert
“Ventomine”
Violin - Tim Fain
“Err”
Clarinet and Bass Clarinet - Josh Plotner
“Respir”
Violin - Kaileen King
Viola - Miribai Peart
Cello - Anna Fritz
Mastered by Peter Nothnagle
Paintings by Zachary Johnson (thezacharyjohnson.com)
Artist photo by Robbie Augspurger (robbieaugspurger.com)
Design by Sebastian Boecking with McKenzie Stubbert and Russ Curry
Special thanks to Vandoren Wheeler, Nate Grubbs, Debra Perko-Kornberg, Lily Skove, TJ Hellmuth, Imraan Ismail, Chris Milk, Jonathon Mooney, Josh Onstott, and Tiffany Kimmel
Stunning, Hypnotic, Immersive - I haven't even played the 2nd track yet as I can't stop looping the first - I don't want it to end! Been a lifelong fan & this really is jaw dropping... 10/10 Mat Mckenzie
If I wanted to point someone to Steve Roach's music, I'd start them here. This record spans some of Roach's signature styles, like the percolating synths in "Currents of Compassion", the dreamy abstraction of "Prometheus Passage", the tribal rhythms of "The Gone Place", and the elegiac majesty of "What Remains". It's stunning all around and guaranteed to make any day better. fyeahmetal
We have the 'Rest Of Life' to think whole truths morally wrong... no amount of gronce will shonky honesty up.. when dissin to depleted lobotomies is not barked back at too smugly.. cones, jugs & pharmacies
"And all the drama got me stressin' like I'm hopeless, I can't cope..
Me and the homies smokin' roaches, 'cause we broke" - 2PAC skitzo-productions
The experimental rock band's new record is as melodic and inventive as ever, but now with an even more honed sense of play. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 27, 2024
Ross J. Farrar of Ceremony creates dubby outside punk evoking the minimalism of Young Marble Giants on his second solo record. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 27, 2024