Kutiman Lines Up New Album, Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds
'Don't Hold Onto The Clouds' LP will land on July 6 via Syial Music.
Isreali psychedelic, new age, afrobeat, jazz, house, and ambient producer Kutiman will release a new album in July, titled Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds.
Born Ophir Kutiel in 1982, Kutiman released his last album, 6AM, in 2016, and it found him leaning upon the production style of David Axelrod to create what The Guardian described as “a modern amalgam of African flavoured psychedelic rock that nods historically to exotica, soul, breakbeat and jazz while recalling the diverse likes of Cinematic Orchestra, Air and Antibalas.” Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds is comprised of just four tracks—the shortest of which, “Lucid Dream,” still clocks in at almost eight minutes. It orbits within reach of, among other styles, ambient, electronica, minimal, and new age, but “refuses to settle on merely one,” the label explains.
After being discovered during the Myspace era by a small German label, Kutiman released his first, eponymous album in 2007. Despite a strong international reception, however, the LP was soon overshadowed by music he uploaded two years later onto YouTube. For “Thru You,” as he called the project, he meticulously cut and pasted together clips he found on the video platform of amateur solo musicians to create seven, original, intricately arranged songs. These new videos swiftly went viral, and so remarkable was the execution of his concept that it earned a place in Time magazine’s list of “The Fifty Best Inventions of 2009.”
We’re told that Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds emerged from time spent alone in his studio “pursuing his instincts.” It reveals his appreciation for Terry Reilly, Moondog, Alice Coltrane, and William Basinski, in addition to a growing love for Indian music. The label describes the release as “‘meditative and enigmatic, like nothing he’s done before, and like little anyone else has done either.”
Don’t Hold Onto The Clouds LP will land on July 6 on Kutiman’s own Syial Music, with “Lucid Dream” streaming in full blow.