Altered Zones

We warned you that Leyland James Kirby was a busy man. Now that his first EP under his given name is out of the gate, he returns after two years of silence to his Caretaker role. His An Empty Bliss Beyond This World album plays with the perception of memory-- more specifically, with the ability of Alzheimer's patients' to recall memories of songs from their past. Kirby sourced the record from a collection of 78s he's amassed over the years, and he's brought these floating snippets into soft focus, shuffled against the gears of time and age. There's a profound sadness in comparing the degradation of a sound source and the degradation of the mind's abilities to recall them. The album, aided by the deft mastering work of Dubplates & Mastering, weaves a potent mix of sound selection and social commentary that one would only expect from the hand of Kirby. The vinyl run on this is limited, but highly worth tracking down. One of the most crushingly beautiful releases of the year. --Andy French, Raven Sings The Blues

MP3: The Caretaker: "Tiny Gradiations of Loss"

Grab An Empty Bliss Beyond This World EP from Experimedia. Preview the album here