It’s been ten years since
@imprec2001 released Issa. I can’t quite believe it.
Issa charts the journey of Jesus Christ (known as Issa in the east) during the lost years, aged around 12-30. I spent such a concentrated time on this record for my last year of study at University. I read and read, I visited Buddhist temples and spoke to monks, recorded in
Churches, spent time with Hare Krishna’s.
Issa set up something beautiful in my life. I didn’t anticipate my final major project to get picked up, but John at Important Records fell for the record and took a risk putting it out.
It led to me supporting the likes of Islam Chipsy (Arnolfini) & Janek Schafer (Cafe Oto) and then later I had the pleasure of supporting Laraaji at The Cube in Bristol. That show changed my life as I realized how lonely I was on stage by myself and thus began a lengthy exploration of improvised madness in the Bristol underground scene (my first major improvised set I just screamed and screamed whilst Dan Johnson thrashed
at his drums).
The album contains one of my favorite pieces that I’ve made. ‘Nibbana’ is a musical expression of the journey of enlightenment. Every instrument, motif, note is rooted and exactly placed to express an aspect of this
experience. Each part of the piece expresses a different Hindu, Buddhist or Christian ideology. It’s the most conceptually rich piece of music I’ve made and also one of my favorite sounding songs.
There was one beautiful double LP pressed with artwork and a wooden box designed by
@brutalbutters . It’s a gorgeous object.
Important Records put out a beautifully designed CD which contains the full narrative I studied and drew inspiration from.
The album is available on most major platforms (except Spotify, even back then I wasn’t a fan).
The full track by track narrative is only available with the CD. CD’s are still available from my Bandcamp or, if you’re based in the US, direct from
@imprec2001 webstore.
Special thanks to
@imprec2001 for releasing it and to Brigitte Hart and Joshua Tristan Churchill for their beautiful playing throughout the album.
