Daniel Avery and Alessandro Cortini have announced their first collaborative album, Illusion of Time, set for release on March 27 on Phantasy worldwide and Phantasy/Mute in the United States and Canada.

Illusion of Time began as a collaborative experiment before the pair had even met, and they worked on it remotely and free of concept or deadline over several years. They completed it when they were both touring with Nine Inch Nails in 2018. The result is a “quietly powerful album rooted in trust, process, and experimentation,” the label explains.

The first fruits of their labour were unveiled last year when “Water” and “Sun” appeared online, and were subsequently released as a limited edition 7” run that was sold at FYF Festival and Mount Analog in Los Angeles, and Phonica Records in London. Both tracks are included on the album.

“It was very much a shared process,” Avery notes. “I would like to credit Alessandro with his belief that music has a life of its own, as well as the importance he places on the first take…that even something that may be considered out-of-step by some should be respected. Some of the tracks were borne simply out of a tiny synth part, or a bit of tape hiss that we had recorded. And that approach taught me a lot. It’s a record that’s been worked on hard, but not laboured over.”

“I was a big fan of Daniel’s, and his work always spoke to me in a certain way,” explains Cortini. “Then, when we started working together, it just clicked. It’s very hard to explain, but I can always hear the love in his work, and that is true on this record. After our first collaboration, we just kept sending each other music and maintaining that dialogue. Next thing you know, we’re sitting in a hotel room in New York and had finished the record in three hours.”

The album follows Avery’s second album, Song For Alpha, released in early 2018. Cortini released his most recent solo album, Volume Massimo, on Mute in July 2019, following Fine, the Italian artist’s final album under his SONOIO alias, which came out the previous year.

To coincide with the announcement, the pair have shared a video for the album’s title track directed by Sam Davis and Tom Andrew, streaming below.

Tracklisting:

01. Sun
02. Illusion of Time
03. CC Pad
04. Space Channel
05. Inside The Ruins
06. At First Sight
07. Interrupted By The Cloud of Light
08. Enter Exit
09. Water
10. Stills

Illusion of Time LP is set for release on March 27 on limited edition heavyweight transparent magenta vinyl. Pre-order is available here.