FACETS RELEASED
Facets has arrived. It's been a long journey to this album. One I had not even planned for.
When Spectrum released to such unexpectedly wide-reaching (still can’t believe it got featured by Yahoo! Entertainment 😂) and long-lasting acclaim, I thought the next @Am I in Trouble? release would be quite a long time away.
Many of you know that I am involved in many bands, but @Am I in Trouble? is the one band that is entirely "me" in terms of the core songwriting, composition, and intent. Albums take longer to write. It's the one project where I don't really self-impose any specific stylistic / genre guidelines or limitations. It's a project for ruminating and allowing ideas to simmer and blossom.
So when @Voidscan and @Imrryr first offered to do remixes (for what eventually became the Gray EP), I thought it would be a cool way to relinquish control and see what @Am I in Trouble? looks like through the eyes of other talented musicians, while also having another @Am I in Trouble? release to share with the world while the next full-length continues to take shape.
The results of the Gray EP thrilled me. Not only that, but @Voidscan and @Imrryr had more fuel in their tanks. So a pitch was made to the many talented artists and friends in the Ampwall Discord community— "does anybody want to remix a song from Spectrum?". I thought Gray would be a fun little one-off EP, but it turned out to instead be a launchpad for an entire album.
The response was far more than I predicted. Any original idea of "one remix per song" quickly went out the window, as more and more musicians threw their hats in the ring. Once the dust had settled, fourteen incredible artists had stepped forward.
It was daunting, handing over the keys to the kingdom. My most deeply personal band— the one that is entirely "me"— handed over to 14 other artists to do whatever they chose to do.
But as each artist shared works-in-progress, and finished song after finished song, I became more and more overjoyed. Not only were my songs in exceptional hands, I also quickly saw that this was more than just a "remix" album. To varying degrees, songs had been completely disassembled, and reconstructed into pieces that were barely recognizable— beautiful new iterations stemming from the hearts of the original pieces.
@Voidscan’s record label, @SHIFT+CTRL Music, felt like the perfect home for this release. He was one of the biggest motivating factors behind Facets‘ creation (he also handled the Herculean task of mastering the album at his studio Structure|Edit Mixing & Mastering Studio), and the label embraces wild musical diversity; a trait very present on Facets.
The final perfect piece of the puzzle was seeing the beautiful piece “Eclectic” by @Alex Loach.
The painting felt like the perfect representation of the deconstructed nature of Facets. A vibrant expression of self-contained chaos, compared to the clean, controlled display of color that Eva Darron’s (@Factotum Design Co) artwork for Spectrum.
I know some folks write off "remix" albums as "filler". I've been there myself. I've been an "album purist" and ignored remix albums, EPs, and splits while I waited for full-lengths.
However, while you wait for the next "proper" Am I in Trouble? full-length through @Bölverk Collective, I hope you'll put that feeling aside and check out Facets. The album opened my eyes to how fresh and exciting a "remix" album can be, and I'm confident it can do the same for you if you approach it with an open mind and an open heart.
@Am I in Trouble? is a celebration of everything I love about avantgarde metal, but Facets is a celebration of everything I love about music.
CASSETTE TAPE
DIGITAL
