M. Grig is the solo project of Mike Grigoni, a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Bellingham who is now based in Durham, North Carolina. Formerly recording as Light of Woods, Grigoni put out his debut full-length Field Notes back in 2016 on Other Songs Music Co., and has teamed up with the Canadian label once more to release his sophomore record, Still Lifes under the M.Grig moniker.
The album first sparked into life over ten years ago, when Grigoni bought his first multi-track recorder while living in Seattle and set to creating layers of lap steel and pedal steel guitar in a process of experimentation. The successful pieces essentially came to form the seed of Still Lifes, an album built almost entirely out of the two aforementioned instruments. With the record being created during his move to Durham, the music can be taken as a loose chronicle of a cross-country journey, starting in Washington and finishing in North Carolina.
Ahead of the album’s release on Friday (25th August), we’re happy to share ‘Still Life I’, the first proper song on the release after the shimmering prelude. A patient track, the song places pedal steel on the pedestal it deserves, Grigoni using the instrument with all the care and clarity of a classic composer. As such, the track is bright and eloquent and comfortably sad, all the atmosphere of ambient music accentuated with a wistful Americana edge, creating something rooted in both memories and the natural world.
