Black vinyl LP Edition of 440. Release Date – January 27th, 2023.
Includes unlimited streaming of In the River
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 4 days
edition of 70
$22USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$8USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
While supplies last, you can bundle In the River with Pleasure is the Headlight for a discounted price of 42$
Includes unlimited streaming of In the River
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 4 days
$42USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
While supplies last, you can bundle In the River with Reticence/Resistance for a discounted price of 40$
Includes unlimited streaming of In the River
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 4 days
$40USD
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
While supplies last, bundle In the River and our split with Liam Grant and save.
Includes unlimited streaming of In the River
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 4 days
$30USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
We are running a special promotion pairing any LP purchase with a painting by artist Emily Keown, who did the artwork for Pleasure is the Headlight, as well as Tilling the Soil, Black Earth Hymns, and more. Just 10$ more.
If you want to add it to a bundle purchase not listed here, just add 10$ to the price and include a note that you are also ordering the artwork.
Now, you can also opt to buy just one of her paintings as well.
Includes unlimited streaming of In the River
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Spiral Joy Band: In the River
Edition of 440
Feeding Tube Records 654
Release Date: January 27, 2023
Pre-orders available to ship now
(we have 70 copies on hand)
Digital and Physical Purchases here include the bonus track of the uninterrupted performance (A-->B)
"Spiral Joy Band are one of the descendants of Richmond VA's legendary musical juggernaut, Pelt. Active and mutating for nearly 20 years, the iteration of the Spiral Joy Band who recorded this
session in Madison Wisconsin in 2011 was a trio. Troy Schafer, Patrick Best and Mikel Dimmick play an array of instruments -- violin, viola, harmonium -- to produce lush tapestries of the multiphonic drones for which they are known.
I remember Pelt getting called “The Hillbilly Theatre of Eternal Music” at the '98 Terrastock Festival in San Francisco. And indeed, that was a definite part of Pelt's sound at that point in their evolution. But since 2004, Spiral Joy Band have focused on and explored that particular niche with firm resolve. All versions of the group have reveled in the use of acoustic instruments to create tones to saturate the air with colors, while avoiding the technical shortcuts offered by electronics.
The two sidelong pieces on In the River, reportedly inspired by Ka Baird (from Spires That in the Sunset Rise) and the Minneapolis string genius, Paul Metzger, are open-ended musical discussions about the existence of infinity, and how portions of infinite space might be corralled in ways that suggest continuously expanding horizons.
Both the pieces are exquisite and function equally well as Furniture Music (as defined by Eric Satie) or active meditation fields, unveiling endless spools of drone in which a listener can wallow deeply. The closer you listen, the more you'll be able to hear. But even as a “mere” soundtrack to the day, In the River offers the kind of textural beauty that makes everything feel better.
Spiral Joy Band are sonic explorers dedicated to very specific corner of the universe, but it's one that contains the sort of magical powers we all need more than ever. If I were a doctor I'd prescribe a daily dose of their music as an antidote to the rigors of reality as we know it. As Pink Floyd once suggested, “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk.”
Words to live by, eh?"
-Byron Coley
credits
released November 4, 2022
Recorded one summer evening during a show at Shockrasonic in Madison Wisconsin. After being/living in the sounds of, then Wisconsin luminary, Ka Baird and Minneapolis/St. Paul's legend Paul Metzger, In the River is our humble paean to the evening. Troy and Patrick on Violin and Viola respectively, with Mikel on Harmonium, and the languorous pulse of Jupiter Jr., In the River offers promise for the respite of night. An invitation for dwelling together.
Spiral Joy Band:
Troy Schafer, Patrick W. Best and Mikel Dimmick
Sounds:
Violin, Harmonium, Jupiter, Viola
Recorded June 22, 2011 at Shockrasonic in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mastering and artwork by Nathaniel Ritter
All thanks to Best peoples, Schafer peoples, the Water Dragons, Dimmick peoples, Nathaniel, Ted, and Feeding Tube Records
With love and respect to Jack Rose.
Copyright: Ark Majesties 2021
The wonderful performances of the group are elevated by the absolutely gorgeous production. The mix is perfect, lively and full, but not overproduced. It sounds like I'm right there with the Pickers. hagbardcelinedion
William Ryan Fritch's enthralling, doomy new CD comes housed in a gorgeous, panoramic gatefold sleeve with bewitching original artwork. Bandcamp New & Notable May 16, 2016
