Resavoir & Matt Gold - Horizon. LP [Ltd Ed. Lake Glass Green Vinyl]

Resavoir & Matt Gold - Horizon. LP [Ltd Ed. Lake Glass Green Vinyl]

Limited Edition 140g "Lake Glass Green" color LP in heavyweight reverse-board jacket with custom printed inner sleeve. Package design by Crystal Zapata. Pressed at Pallas in Germany, with lacquers cut Daniel K @ SST.

‘Horizon’ is the impeccably beautiful debut collaborative album from Matt Gold & Resavoir. 
 
Where tape-infused guitar and piano melt into flower petals. This record truly feels lived-in as it effortlessly sweeps through sun-drenched woodwinds, late afternoon castaway free-flowing soul and dream-easy-jazz musings of the tallest order.
 
From the jump, ‘Canopy’ sets the tone for the rest of the 27-minute runtime. With an understated mellow strum of nylon guitar beneath distant chirping birds, the lush orchestration is delivered with such conviction, it's hard to not get swept up in the magic of it all. Cascading piano stabs, free-form synth laden jams, groove-heavy percussion, it's clever and intricate but never at the expense of the listener. 
 
Influenced by Brazilian folk music from the 70’s, ‘Horizon’ still feels extremely fresh in its approach without mining nostalgia for the sake of it. Musically in sync, Matt Gold and Resavoir finish each other's sentences. 
 
A succinct, graceful debut from two of Chicago’s emerging greats, this suite of ten measured tracks makes you wonder if they’d been writing together for years - because it sure seems that way. Full of intoxicating light and a warm, musk-tinted breeze, ‘Horizon’ oozes pure spontaneous joy!
 
Will Miller [Resavoir] & Matt Gold. A special collaboration indeed. Out via the ever inspiring International Anthem recording Co.
 
For fans of Tommy Guerrero, early 70’s Brazilian folk, Makaya McCraven & early Sam Prekop.

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And from the label, a "deep dive" into all things Horizon:

Imagine it’s late afternoon, you’re outside by the lake, and there’s sunlight on the water. This is the peaceful and contemplative scene that Matt Gold and Resavoir set on their collaborative LP Horizon. Across 10 lush and exploratory tracks, it’s the product of two Chicago-based musicians—Will Miller, the acclaimed trumpeter, composer, and producer who’s worked with SZA, Whitney, and more, and Gold, a seasoned multi-instrumentalist and accomplished guitarist—effortlessly combining their distinct sensibilities for something hypnotic and tangibly inviting. What started as a love letter to their shared admiration for ‘60s and ‘70s Brazilian music evolved into a dynamic and sprawling body of work. These sunny and expansive tunes are as immersive as they are endlessly replayable.

Both Miller and Gold attended Oberlin College’s Conservatory of Music together and in the years after graduating, they orbited each other around Chicago’s music communities. “We were showing up for each other as friends and taking an interest in each other's projects, noticing a lot of resonances and similarities working within in our music,” says Gold, who’s collaborated with artists like Makaya McCraven and Jamila Woods and stretched the bounds of jazz and Americana on solo albums Imagined Sky and Midnight Choir. “We had talked so much about eventually working together that it was almost like an ongoing bit at a certain point,” says Miller. Though they had known each other for over a decade, they first had their chance on “Inside Minds,” the breezy lead single on 2023’s Resavoir. While those sessions were remote, two had palpable chemistry.

It wasn’t until Miller left the touring band of the Chicago group Whitney in 2023 that their plans to make music together in person came to fruition. “When I first started Resavoir, I was chasing the desire to produce records and now that I had time to focus exclusively on that, Matt was the first person I called to come to the studio,” says Miller. The two had bonded over an admiration for the Brazilian guitarist Luis Bonfa and songwriter Milton Nascimento, especially the latter’s work with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, so they decided to use nylon string guitar as a starting point for these early sessions. “Canopy,” which opens Horizon, was the earliest track. Kicking off with bright acoustic chords, the song slowly unfurls into a slinking groove, samples, and fluttering leads from soprano saxophonist Tim Bennett.

As these initial experiments proved successful, Gold and Miller felt they could broaden the scope of their vision. “We were initially conceiving of it as this acoustic guitar driven record but eventually we wanted to frame it orchestrally and see how many shades and colors we can bring in around that sound,” says Gold. “Dewy” thrives within this orchestral palette of woozy synths, strings from Macie Stewart, Claire Chenette’s oboe, flautist Wills McKenna, and French horns from Lloyd Billingham. “We discovered that our multi-instrumentalist mentalities—using piano and bass, samplers, drum grooves, guitar ideas all as starting points— nurtured the broad orchestration across this record,” says Miller.

“The LP took about a year with on-and-off sessions,” says Miller. “The songs benefit from letting them ferment for a couple months, coming back to it, and seeing what sort of new flavors have developed.” Co-produced by Miller and Gold (and mixed by Dave Vettraino), Horizon proudly reflects the artists’ vast artistic community and musical network in Chicago and beyond. Along with Gold, Eddie Burns (Clairo), Peter Mannheim (Tony Glausi), and Carter Lang (SZA, Lil Nas X) provide drums and percussion throughout. On the dreamlike single “Diversey Beach,” New York songwriter Mei Semones lends vocals and along with her band members Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, collaborated on a mesmerizingly conversational string arrangement. “We wrote "Diversey Beach" on the coldest day of the year watching a blizzard coming down out of the window, where the sounds of the cars driving by sounded like waves crashing on a beach,” says Miller. “I sent it to Mei Semones, who I’ve been a fan of for a long time. She's absolutely incredible and it’s amazing what she did with it.”

Horizon is a testament to the feeling of endless possibilities that come from collaboration. It’s a remarkable synthesis of two artists who share musical community and an artist lineage but have carved their own paths in unique ways. Nowhere is this more evident than “Hazel Canyon,” which boasts Gold’s silky pedal steel and a subtly enveloping arrangement that evokes Erasmo Carlos. “Musically, we're always trying to capture a fleeting moment of infinite expanse, feeling the vastness of things while knowing they'll always change,” says Gold. “This record keeps the light reflecting on the water just a little longer -- our collaborative process running through the backbone of these songs and rippling out in so many beautiful directions..”