Stream: Entrance, ‘Always The Right Time’

Daiana Feuer on February 16th, 2017

0

Over the years, Guy Blakeslee has allowed Entrance to transform with him, his music shifting as his own interests and exploration evolved. While the Entrance Band kept minds happily melted with psychedelic rock, Blakeslee has moved on from that, at least for now. His new full-length studio album, “Book Of Changes,” being released by Thrill Jockey on Feb. 24, is decidedly more gentle, and finds him focused on the heart of songcraft. He says, “I desperately wanted to get back to the essential nature of ‘SONG’ — as opposed to a ‘track.’ … Most music that is released nowadays is really a track, not a song — it would be impossible for one person with an instrument to sit down in a room and perform it. So it was important that this album begin from actual songs that I could sing with a guitar or a piano.” As heard on the very romantic “Always The Right Time,” there’s definitely more instrumentation going on, but only in service of the melody. “All of the textures and sounds I added along the way are the icing on the cake to expand the experience for the listener,” he continues, “but at the heart is a real song, a basic text of words and a melody. I want to do my part to see that tradition isn’t lost. I believe there’s still a lot of power in a song.”

Written over the course of a year between touring (mostly solo), Blakeslee put the album together in 11 different studios between Los Angeles and London. Entrance Band alums Paz Lenchantin and Derek James play on the album, with additional special appearances by drummer Will Scott, percussionist Frank Lenz and vocalists Jessica Tonder and Lael Neale.

||| Stream: “Always the Right Time”