The solo project of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Andy Schiaffino, body / negative announced itself fully in 2020 with the majestic album, Fragments. Crafted from a blend of dream pop and shoegaze influences, the collection was either haunted by the past or else halfway set within it. Songs haunting and tormented and strange, though always possessing that alluring quality so unique to the most celestial of dreams.
With new album everett coming soon on Track Number Records, Schiaffino has shared the title track to hint at where the body / negative sound has gone since. Developed with a team of collaborators including Madeline Johnston (Midwife), Justin Maranga, Dawood Nadurath and others, the album was set to be recorded at Johnston’s New Mexico studio, though Schiaffino’s father subsequently fell ill and the album’s creation was fundamentally changed. Instead, everett was brought into being while Schiaffino cared for their father in the hospice, and inevitably the record bent towards themes of grief, love and remembrance. With vocals captured on telephone handset instead of a microphone, the sound takes on nostalgic, melancholic tone. An attempt at communication through planes of existence and accumulated time. Continuing the ideas first introduced on Fragments but charged with a newfound immediacy amid the direst of personal circumstances.
The title track might be the album’s closer, but it is the ideal introduction too. A hint at both its texture and depth, as well as the mournful yet fond atmosphere which results. Aided by the distinctive Midwife style, ‘everett’ sees body / negative reaching across seemingly impassable gaps to ensure the line between loved ones remains open, regardless of how distant they might come to seem.
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The track also comes complete with a video directed by Ryan Betschart and Rachel Nakawatase which you can watch below:
everett is out on the 8th December via Track Number Records and you can pre-order it from the body / negative Bandcamp page.
