Our New LP - Freeing Form - Out Now!
Okay folks, game day! Welcome to the release date for The Stratos Ensemble's new LP, Freeing Form.
As of right now, April 12th, the album is available everywhere. This post will contain many of those links (Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, others) which are all below, along with our full press release. It's a good and comprehensive post. More will be shared over the coming weeks, including repeats of the following sites and distributors who carry the LP. Also, make a note that physical CDs of Freeing Form will be available in a week, but only on our Bandcamp page.
Spotify
Apple Music
Bandcamp:
Pandora
YouTube Music
Band Website (The Stratos Ensemble)
NEW VIDEO
We also have a music video up on YouTube commemorating the release of Freeing Form. The video is for track-1 of the album, entitled "Together In Flames". It can be found in the link below. (Apologies that the second music video won't be up by tomorrow but rather by early next week.)
THE STRATOS ENSEMBLE - FREEING FORM
The Stratos Ensemble approaches their music from an ambient, progressive style base rather than the traditional, non-idiomatic school of thought prevalent in the world of musical free form. They focus on textured audio exploration as much as musicianship, and their performances often extend into epic, long-form sets of sonic and melodic exploration, moving through peaks and valleys of intensity and emotional dynamic.
Their latest LP, entitled Freeing Form, is more versatile than any of the band’s previous releases. It covers a selection of work from 2013-2023, focusing mainly on the last two years of material performed by the band’s most current lineup of players. Various vocal elements are also introduced, a development following the arrival of a lead singer, Nichole Michelle Jones, in 2022. The music of Freeing Form, much like the rest of the Stratos Ensemble’s work, began as complete improvisations tracked at various studios. Later, De Benedictis mixed and edited these recordings to make them sound more like a production, supplementing the esoteric audio abandon typically associated with improvised music recordings. The title of Freeing Form is a play-on-words to the term free-form and is a comment on the world of free and improvised music. One of the ideas it intends to suggest is that true freedom comes in many forms, even binding ones, and can be thought of as a relative and omnidirectional phenomenon rather than always being considered a product of uncompromising will or whim.
The current lineup of musicians in The Stratos Ensemble are:
TJ Sammut — guitar
Robert Gross — bass
Nichole Michelle Jones — vocals, improv lyrics
Coco Roussel — drums, drum pads, additional synth
Dean De Benedictis — piano, synths, samplers, processing, melodica, secondary vocals
Shaunte Palmer — trombone
Information about the individual tracks on Freeing Form follows:
01 Together In Flames
This piece, the album focus track (aka second single) coming out with the album tomorrow, April 12, was part of a longer recorded set. It was improvised and tracked live at Clear Lake Studios in 2022. Some post-production was done later by Dean. The title answers the mood in contrast with the lyrics.
02 Brand U New
This exciting and dense Eno-harkening piece was part of a more extended set improvised and recorded live at Clear Lake Studios in 2022. There was an error during recording, and Dean’s vocal parts were not tracked, so he redid them during minor editing in the post. The title is a play on words from Nichole's improvised lyrics, some resembling known sayings.
03 Dunn
This piece, the first single of this album, released on March 25, was a group interpretation of a rough vamp sketch with no entirely premeditated parts (in Stratos' tradition). The band also played along with a pre-programmed sequencer during the intro, comprised mainly of whispered consonants. The entire piece was improvised and recorded live at Clear Lake Studios in 2019 by Brandon McGregor (guitar), Coco Roussel (drums), Robert Gross (bass), and Dean De Benedictis (piano/synth /lead voice sample). The title is a hat-tip to the band’s fun-but-short-stint guitarist, Brandon.
04 Ray Of Night
This extended but moody jam was part of a longer recorded set. It was improvised and recorded live at Clear Lake Studios in 2022. Some post-production was done later by Dean. The title answers the mood in contrast with the spontaneous lyrics.
05 Up Tyner
This piece was also part of a longer recorded set. Dean began playing an old McCoy Tyner riff variation in slow swing, and the band soon joined. The title is a dedication to that moment. As always, the lyrics were improvised. The piece was improvised and tracked live at Clear Lake Studios in 2022.
06 We Hope AI Will Have Moments Like This
This cheekily titled piece was part of a more extended set improvised and recorded at 4th Street Studios in LA on the coldest day of 2023. Dean later did some post-production.
07 Nev
This piece was improvised live at Multi Media Studios in 2015 by Dean De Benedictis (melodica), Shaunte Palmer (trombone), Coco Rousell (drums), Rod McDowell (bass), and Daniel Coffeng (guitar effects). Some post-production was done later by Dean.
08 No Stranger
This piece is part of a more extended set. It was improvised and tracked at Amp Rehearsal Studios in 2013 by Dean De Benedictis (keyboards/embellishments), Rod McDowell (bass), Brock Bowers (drums), and Angelo Alonte (electric violin / 12-string guitar). Dean later did some post-production.
09 When Reminded Of Arcadia
Another extended jam was improvised and tracked at the bassist’s art loft in Arcadia, California, in 2014. The musicians were Dean De Benedictis (intro synth/lead synth), Brock Bowers (drums), Carl Royce (upright electric bass), Jim Goetsch (backup synth / mock piano), and Daniel Coffeng (guitar). Dean later did some post-production.
010 Lighthouse
This piece was part of an extended set improvised and recorded live at 4th Street Studios in LA during the coldest day of 2023. Dean later did post-production. The title answers the spontaneous lyrics and mood, as it feels reverent and upbeat while simultaneously resembling lament and release. They thought it a fitting album end.
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For more information on Dean De Benedictis, please see https://www.deandebenedictis.com/, and for more info on The Stratos Ensemble, please see https://thestratosensemble.bandcamp.com/. For media needs, please contact Susan von Seggern at susan@susanvonseggern.com
