It’s been a little while since we heard new material from Walrus favourite Conner Youngblood, but this week we’ve been blessed with two new recordings.
I was lucky enough to catch Conner play at the Servant Jazz Quarters whilst he was over in this green and pleasant land for a short tour. He often plays with a full band over in the States, but the solitary figure of him on stage surrounded by a pyramid of instruments, microphones, and sampling tools was an impressive site, and all the more perfect for some of his new material like the slow and ponderous Aqua Regia we have here.
Amelia is Conner’s distinctive sound of soft-reverbed vocals, reversed samples, and marching drums that we know and love, but it is Aqua Regia where he shows how far he’s come in the years since Monsters. It’s is a piece slow, delicate and carefully crafted beauty.