Jabun – June22

Following my ambient and experimental live 4th album as Jabun – Tides (released May 2022), on March 3rd 2023, I release another live Jabun EP – June22.

After releasing my live and ambient 4th Jabun album Tides in May 2022, I really thought I’d be taking a break from electronic and ambient music to concentrate on my ska-punk project Better Than The Book which between night shifts working retail and other things was slowly but surely working through making its 3rd full-length album. Before even May had come to an end though, I was back to recording some evening electronic ambient jams, and although some of them weren’t great at all, June would bring forth some of my most inspired electronic performances yet!

I already raved about the modular synthesizer performances of Suzanne Ciani in the “about” section of the Tides album, and to my luck and surprise Ciani was coming to Leeds in June (to my knowledge for the first time ever) to perform with her Buchla Modular System live in quadraphonic! Knowing I’d kick myself if I didn’t go, I bought a ticket and eagerly awaited the evening I’d get to see one of my synth heroes shine on stage on June 22nd! At the time I was still very much listening and researching and experimenting with my own KORG Volca Modular synth, and Decay was the result of some pre-concert excitement and experimentation in the weeks leading up to the big night. Come June 22nd I stepped into the venue to an amazing live and quadraphonic ambient DJ set by Kessie which was a simply incredible experience. As opposed to just the 2 speakers at the front of the stage, there were 2 speakers behind you too, so you really were surrounded by sound as you walked around the small venue hall. Mindblowing! The opening act was an amazing local ambient musician Jake Mehew who played a fantastic set on Modular Synthesiser, Arp Odyssey, and hand-pumped reed organ. After another Kessie accompanied ambient interlude, Suzanne Ciani was ushered to the stage with a grand Leeds welcome and proceeded to conjure her signature incredible electronic soundscapes on her treasured Buchla Modular System. The next 45 minutes or so were a trip out of this world followed by a fun talk with the audience and some further synth jamming, and after an amazing night out, I knew that I’d be setting up my own modular system as soon as I possibly could to release the collected inspiration. Rebirth was the result of a jam the following night.

It’s not always obvious to me whether a random spur of the moment live jam will be released as something more in the future, but as the weeks passed and turned to months while I continued work on Better Than The Book’s 3rd album (along with other things), I found myself revisiting these 2 live performances often and soon realised that they’d become Jabun’s next collective release. After some prep work and subtle mastering, the result was the June22 EP.

June22 is a 16+ minute collection of 2 electronic live performances inspired by the modular synthesizer works of Suzanne Ciani. Both tracks from June22 were performed live and recorded as a single take in June 2022 with only the lightest of further processing to bring the EP together in mastering. The system used in both performances consisted of a KORG Volca Modular Synthesizer running into a KORG Nu:Tekt NTS-1 Digital Synthesizer, and was captured on an Akai MPC 1000 Sampler before being mastered in Ableton Live 8.

Decay recorded on June 8th 2022
Rebirth recorded on June 23rd 2022

Despite being my shortest collective release as Jabun so far both in terms of runtime and track count, and being a bit rough and ready around the edges due to the spur of the moment live nature of the recordings, I’m super pleased with how June22 turned out and really believe it showcases 2 of my most inspired live electronic performances to date. When I close my eyes and let my mind wander, Decay conjures images of walking through a desolate radioactive landscape, alone, a hazy fuzziness clouding your mind and senses as you explore the distorted broken world around you. Rebirth brings images of recovery from such destruction, a time-lapse of plants springing up again from the burnt soil, life and nature reclaiming the land once more. I wonder why my mind wanders to such places when I listen to these tracks? I wonder what images they conjure for you? Whether you sit down to listen intently, have them on in the background while doing something else, or simply immerse yourself in the sounds, I hope you enjoy these uncut live electronic performances from a particularly inspiring month in summer 2022.

This is going to sound silly, but the photo for the album artwork is actually just a pot lid from Eva and I’s kitchen. I recall seeing it one day and noticing how the light bent and reflected off it and thought to myself “What a wonderful texture and image, I should use this for an album cover”! With the metallic nature of some of the sounds from the KORG Volca Modular’s inbuilt reverb, as well as my own imagined narrative of nuclear decay/recovery, I thought this scratched up shiny metal pot lid somehow fit perfectly with the vibe I was going for with June22. Interesting to note too that this is the first Jabun collective release which doesn’t feature any sky and/or sea imagery. I wonder what the next Jabun album will have in store.