Alaskan Tapes Shares New Track 'W(e)ave'

Juno-nominated Toronto-based composer Alaskan Tapes shares the latest track, "W(e)ave," from his upcoming album, Who Tends A Garden, out January 13, 2023.

As the last track on the record, he explains the significance, "For 'W(e)ave' I tried really hard to stick by my typical structure of ambient pieces, fade-in intro, floating bass comes in with the melodic pieces and then fade everything else. It feels stable, which I felt was very important for the last piece of the album, especially since the track before weaves in and out of multiple musical ideas. This one is what it is and doesn't try to be anything else."

The musical project of visionary Brady Kendall, the new record explores the metaphorical and literal meaning of a garden, whether it's composed of sound or of the dirt in one's yard. The concept for the garden theme came to him in an old bookstore on a trip to the Adirondack Mountains in New York, where he came across the book, Who Loves A Garden by Louise Seymour Jones, a title from 1935 filled with old poems and essays on the subject.

The record will include his atmospheric September release, "Then" and transcendent October release, "Library Fields," and November's title track. It is the first full-length release from the compositional ambient artist since his acclaimed 2021 album, For Us Alone.

Brady adds, "I wanted this album to be my stripped-back album but instead of the usual guitar and microphone, I chose my 'garden of sounds' which consisted of my piano, trumpet, various synths and effects pedals, and knowledge of production. It's also my first album since 'We All Speak In Poems' that has only had myself on it, no session musicians, it's pure Alaskan Tapes."

Growing up, Brady played the drums in metal bands before he discovered the drum & bass scene. He started to create and post liquid drum & bass tracks online before becoming more focused on what he calls "drawn-out minimal sounds." Out of these style tracks, the project was born.

Starting in early 2016 with the debut EP Beyond the Streets and then a full-length, We All Speak in Poems, later that same year, Alaskan Tapes began releasing a steady stream of music that gradually ebbed and flowed into new sonic territory and served as a natural progression of Kendall's tastes and sound experiments which even includes a popular podcast titled the same as his debut full length.

Prolific with seven LPs in seven years, plus a myriad film scores and soundtrack compositions, Brady has allowed his work to progress organically and build upon its foundations, gaining millions of streams and fans along the way. He has also become known for his cinematic music videos, which have received numerous nominations and awards at film and music festivals and have been picked several times by Vimeo for the coveted Staff Pick selection.