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Sand Paintings

by Raymond Richards

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  • Streaming + Download

    Pre-order of Sand Paintings. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    Purchasable with gift card
    releases April 26, 2024

      $12 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes digital pre-order of Sand Paintings. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases April 26, 2024
    item ships out on or around May 3, 2024
    1 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD or more 

     

1.
BADWATER BASIN
2.
RATTLESNAKE PASS
3.
4.
2 CENT MAMBO
5.
SAGUARO
6.
ZION LODGE
7.
FARRINGTON DOME
8.
DEER ON HWY 80
9.
MESCAL SHAKES
10.
SONORA

about

There was a long time I considered Raymond Richards the ultimate secret weapon. There were sounds he could make that other people just couldn’t. Pure, whole, yet complex sounds. The pedal steel is an extremely niche instrument outside of its Country confines, but its sheer and transcendent depth has never failed to floor me. Raymond’s ear for implementing the steel into literally anything has always been uncanny. After decades of being savvy to his work ethic, multi-faceted studio skills and overall sense of musical honesty, it became a priority for me to channel some of this into narratives through the ESP Institute and get his stories told. Without further recounting the history and trajectory of our musical relationship (see the press release for 2020’s critically-acclaimed album 'The Lost Art Of Wandering'), I can whole-heartedly confirm this sophomore release, 'Sand Paintings', opens an even wider door into Raymond’s visceral, contemplative world. The cast of players has elaborated to include Calexico’s John Convertino on drums and percussion, a bevy of eccentric stringed instruments and even a hint of brass to collectively stratify context for the pedal steel. Through diversifying the timbral palette, we invite an increased soundstage acuity but also reveal untapped wells of emotion for the listener, perhaps even testing cultural literacies. One foot remains in our established ambient realm, while the other steps toward grand cinematic gestures, and despite the dense, insurmountable emotion in these songs, there is a stoic singularity, like a lonesome cowboy pulling up his boot straps to endure another day. 'Badwater Basin' opens with courage, an enormous chord evoking Raymond’s image of “hard dawn”, but in navigating through the dramatic depictions of 'Monument Valley', 'Saguaro' and 'Deer On Hwy 80', we grapple with a cloaked vulnerability—weathered by the elements, beaten down and alone, yet still madly in love with the world. –Lovefingers

credits

releases April 26, 2024

Produced by Lovefingers. Written and recorded by Raymond Richards at Red Rockets Glare and Fremont Recording in Portland, Oregon between 2021–2022. All instruments played by Raymond Richards except; John Convertino - drums, marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel and maracas; Jean-Pierre Garau - piano, B2 organ and Fender Rhodes; Alex Callenberger - tiple; Josh Thomas - trumpet. Cover image - 'Zabriskie Point', 2021, Mila F, Unsplash.

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about

Raymond Richards Portland, Oregon

Raymond Richards is a Portland, OR-based composer & producer working from his Red Rockets Glare studio. His extensive producing & engineering credits include Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor & Hummingbird, LCD Soundsystem’s American Dream, & Blitzen Trapper’s Holy Smokes Future Jokes.

As a multi-instrumentalist and member of Mojave 3, Idaho Falls, & The Parson Red Heads, Raymond has toured the world.
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