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Illusive by Kelly David: Organic Electronic Meditations in Ambient Music

Crafted using an astounding list of electronic instruments from Moog, Sequential, Nord and modular synthesizers, each piece moves fluidly from beat to beat, melody to melody, never staying in one place for long.

Denver-based synthesist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Kelly David releases his second album of electronic music on the Spotted Peccary label. Out now!

'Illusive' refers to a quality of what you're seeing or hearing or where the direction you think the music is going may actually be headed somewhere else.”
— Kelly David

DENVER, CO , USA, October 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Illusive, Kelly David’s second release for Portland-based record label Spotted Peccary Music (SPM), expands the ethereal, sylvan sound of his previous album Meditation in Green. Like its predecessor, Illusive revels in natural beauty, blending wilderness samples with luminous synths and psychedelic textures. Illusive, however, dwells as much in internal landscapes as external ones. Reflective, introspective, yet filled with wonder, the album releases today in CD format and in 24-BIT AUDIOPHILE, CD QUALITY LOSSLESS, MP3 and streaming formats; various platforms available at https://orcd.co/illusive

Composed during the pandemic, these seven pieces explore the contrast between the calm quietude of David’s surroundings and the chaos of the outside world. “Illusive” means “producing illusion” or “not what it seems,” and makes an apt title for this album of hidden depths. Crafted from an astounding list of electronic instruments using Moog, Sequential, Nord and modular synthesizers, each piece moves fluidly from beat to beat, melody to melody, never staying in one place for long. And yet, Illusive imbues the listener with a sense of calm and stillness even as it remains in constant motion.

“Sentinel” pairs spritely synths with ethereal tones to conjure a sense of safety; the ever-shifting landscape beneath hints at a hidden anxiety, but the danger is always distant, never near. On “Top of the Trees,” sampled bird calls and skittering percussion evoke the avian clamor of the forest. A threatening drone rises to the forefront like a windstorm sweeping through the woods, before it fades into a warm texture and all is calm once again. Finale “Northcoast” opens with sounds of crashing waves; later, an ominous hum simmers under shimmering tones, capturing the might and majesty of the open sea before, in the album’s closing moments, all falls into the waves once again.

David finds opportunities for learning from his compositional processes, “I approach each studio session usually with an idea in mind of where I’m going next. It doesn’t always work out. Not every studio session produces something useful. The key is to return to the studio again, to keep searching, pushing, staying open for the accidents that led to something really useful.”

"Once I reached the point in recording the album where I recognized the quiet delicacy in the music, images of impressionist visual art came to mind: distinct and varied colors, often with the softness of water colors and then deeper, darker waters that flowed deep inside the music. I began with some predetermined compositional structure for each piece. Mostly, it was a set of harmonic materials, namely a reliance on the subset modes of the major scales. Sometimes I modulated between different harmonic modes in the same piece. The modes often impact the emotional quality of a track as some modes are inherently sad or create a feeling of longing. Illusive refers to a quality of what you're seeing or hearing or where the direction you think the music is going may actually be headed somewhere else. Perhaps this relates to the state of the world during the time of this recording: we weren't so sure of many things."

With Illusive, the listener finds a sonic sanctuary, appreciating both our natural and synthetic worlds. Illusive is a meditation on the endurance of beauty through troubled times. As these seven pieces morph from melody to melody—traversing stark silences and warm crescendos, cavernous atmospheres and celestial chimes—change is constant, yet graceful.

Mastered by Howard Givens, Illusive is available for physical purchase in CD format and in 24-BIT AUDIOPHILE, CD QUALITY LOSSLESS, MP3 and streaming formats. The CD version of Illusive arrives in a factory sealed 6-panel gatefold package that includes vibrant artwork, liner notes, a 4-page booklet, and artful package design by Daniel Pipitone.

Critical acclaim for the artist's earlier SPM release, Meditation in Green, included Textura magazine writing "masterfully crafted and beautifully realized" while Star's End said "Kelly David produces passages of mystic bliss – where reverberant chords move like slow clouds on the horizon, and glowing tones flex and fade off into a buzz of jungle."

Please contact Beth Ann Hilton (beth@spottedpeccary.com) at Spotted Peccary Music with requests for interviews, onesheets, radio edits, and media review copies.

Tracklist:
1 Sentinel
2 Palione
3 Distance
4 Garden of the Forgotten
5 Top of the Trees
6 Into The Ether
7 Northcoast

About Kelly David:
In high school, Kelly was heavily influenced by the music of Frank Zappa. Through Frank Zappa interviews in magazines and newspapers, Kelly learned about the music of Stockhausen, Varese and other 20th century masters who provided a first direction to Kelly in electronic music. After a move “out west” to Denver in 1997, Kelly met Tucson’s ambient and electronic music master, Steve Roach. They subsequently developed a personal and professional kinship. Steve mixed and produced Kelly’s first album, Broken Voyage in 2002 and mastered and added spatial enhancements to Kelly’s 2006 release, Angkor. In 2014, Kelly collaborated with Steve on an album called The Long Night. Meditation in Green is Kelly’s first release for Spotted Peccary, and Illusive is the second.

About Spotted Peccary Music:
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. Explore more than 165 titles and 45 artists at www.SpottedPeccary.com and www.AmbientElectronic.com.

Links:
Spotted Peccary Album Page: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/illusive/
CD unboxing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcG-280CeZE
Bandcamp: https://ambientelectronic.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spottedpeccary/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/spottedpeccary

Beth Hilton
Spotted Peccary Music
+1 310-560-8390
beth@spottedpeccary.com
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Official Album Unboxing Preview: Illusive by Kelly David for Spotted Peccary Music

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