Small Forward - Lydian Collective
While attending college in Los Angeles, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Michael Stevenson and Rounak Maiti converged on a desire to collaborate and meld their love of Americana and pop music. Informal bedroom jam sessions resulted in hours of demos, constructed from the duo’s rudimentary yet textured take on songwriting. After condensing their work down to four downtempo, home-recorded songs, they self-released an eponymous debut EP in 2014. From hazy, forlorn atmospheres to more heart-on-sleeve folk, Stevenson and Maiti worked with Campbell Scott (bass) and Nick Waldram (drums) to craft rich, full band arrangements.
From 2015-16, Small Forward began developing their live act, playing with a full band across the Los Angeles area. During this time, they began recording The Moon You Stand On, the band’s debut full-length album. Here, Maiti and Stevenson’s lush, folk-inspired ideas were rounded out by a prominent rhythm section, Scott’s dulcet bass tones dot Nick Waldram’s jazzy, intrepid approach to percussion and drums. Together, the four wrote, recorded and produced the album entirely in their shared home, over the better part of a year. Self-released in October 2016, Deli Mag described the album’s sound as “timeless, teeming with multi-layered guitars and chugging beats that lend a uniformity to their quietly resplendent melodies.”
The band began recording another project, Affections, in early 2017. They channeled 70s psych-rock and AM pop with the first single, “The Reservoir”. The release was met with praise from Gold Flake Paint and Buzzbands LA, the latter describing it as a “soundtrack to (their) reverie.” The resulting collection of 6 songs, released on Forged Artifacts in October 2017, saw left-turns and plenty of new texture, decorated with their customary take on sweet wistfulness. With live performances across the greater Los Angeles area and a southwest tour under their belt, plus two new singles on the way, Small Forward is alive, kicking and ready for 2019. Bandcamp.
There is a smooth and refined feel to 'Tearjerker' a flowing psych rocker with plenty of melodic hooks both vocally and through the blissfully good musicianship.
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After the success of their popular debut acclaimed album ‘Adventure’, (which has generated over 1 million album streams on Spotify in just 6 months). Lydian Collective are now following this up with their new single ‘High 555’.
The first release helped to put themselves firmly on the map of the instrumental Jazz Funk Fusion scene, which has has lead onto recent appearances at festivals such as Cheltenham Jazz, ‘So What’s Next’ Festival in The Netherlands, Cambridge Jazz Festival and plays on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction show; as well as features on Spotify’s ‘The State of Jazz’ and ‘Fusion Fest’ playlists.
After the intricate and rhythmically complex ‘Adventure’ album, they have now shifted gears on this single with a hi-octane stomping four to the floor danceable fun and funky groove, led by a phat distorted synth bass line!
‘High 555’ takes the listener through the usual compositional twists and turns that have made Lydian Collective tunes so popular, but this time the focus is on a solid groove to get the body moving! This single came out on 30th November and will be part of an EP, which is due to be released in Spring next year. Website.
It's almost a year to the day since we first (and last) featured Lydian Collective and now we have their latest single 'High 555'. So a year ago we commented that the band produced "Vibrant and dynamic music that reaches across Jazz and Blues genres (& a few others) this is superbly crafted musicianship". Well they are consistent regarding all of that, and the cool video drives home the point.
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